Miscellaneous. 75 



the elucidation and completion of the flora of Bath since the publi- 

 cation (in 1839) of the 'Supplement to the Flora Bathoniensis.' 

 He points out the errors to be found in that book, and corrects 

 them, and adds a considerable number of species to the list. 



Unfortunately, we cannot greatly praise Mr. Trimmer's ' Flora of 

 Norfolk.' As a list of plants found m the county, it is doubtless 

 very correct ; but as a flora of the county it is very imperfect. 

 There is no attempt to show the distribution of the plants by local 

 divisions. It is an old-fashioned flora, such as might have been 

 published fifty years since, except that its nomenclature and the 

 view taken of species are those of the present day. Whole districts of 

 the county seem not to have been examined, or only in a very super- 

 ficial manner. If the author had made known his intention of pub- 

 lishing a flora of the county, we know that he might have obtained 

 lists of plants for some of these neglected tracts. Let us hope that 

 a new edition will supply the wants of this one. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the actual state of our Information relative to the ' Leporide,^ 

 or Hybrid between Hare and Rabbit. By Dr. Pigeaux. 



Are there any sexual relations between the hare and rabbit in a 

 state of nature to which it would be possible to attribute the crea- 

 tion of a mixed or intermediate species, to be named, on account of 

 external configuration, Leporide ? The ancients, and indeed some of 

 the moderns, deceived by the colours and special forms of certain 

 varieties of rabbits common in the south of Europe and very abun- 

 dant in Asia Minor, have believed this to be the case. Such varie- 

 ties are found in some departments of the east of France and along 

 the banks of the Rhone. These are, after all, merely rabbits which 

 burrow, and are born without fur and with the eyes closed. Such 

 are the Leporides of INI. Roux, and those also which have been and 

 are perhaps still called 'Leporides' at the Jardin d'Acclimatationin 

 Paris. These rabbits pair voluntarily, and are productive either 

 amongst themselves or in conjunction with the ordinary domestic 

 rabbit. I have had in my possession some of them which, from 

 their appearance, might almost have been mistaken for hares, having 

 the tip of the ears black and the inferior surface of the belly and of 

 the thighs tawny ; nevertheless, by all characters distinctive of the 

 species, they were never anything but rabbits. Thus I am able to 

 negative the pretentions of M. Roux to having created a race of 

 fertile hybrids begotten through a male hare and several female 

 rabbits. 



It is, however, by no means diflicult to bring about a connexion 

 between the hare and rabbit in a state of domestication ; but for 

 success we must not persist in uniting adult individuals unaccus- 

 tomed to living together previously. In such a case the female 

 nearly always kills the male, bleeding him at the jugular, or, unless 

 the hutch be very securely fastened, succeeds in dislodging him. 



