LEPORIDiE. 



HARES AND RABBITS. 



Characters : — These are duplicident rodents, with long ears x 

 and hind legs ; with rudimentary clavicles ; with the palatal 

 bridge formed mainly by the maxillary bones ; with superciliary 

 processes to the frontals ; with rather small auditory bullae not 

 inflated with spongy tissue with lateral mastication. 



They appear to have had their origin in North America, 

 where they are first known from the lower oligocene 

 {Palesolagus). Lepus itself appears in the upper oligocene 

 of North America, but is not found in Europe or Asia 

 (Siwaliks) until the lower pliocene. 



They are now widely distributed, being represented all 

 over the world, except in New Zealand, Australasia, and 

 Madagascar. 



Classification : — This family formed until recently one genus, 

 Lepus. It has latterly, however, like other groups, been 

 compelled to yield to the attack of minute study, and the old 

 Linnean genus has already been divided into about ten modern 

 genera, including many species and sub-species. 



The first and most obvious segregation was that of Forsyth 

 Major, who, in the Trans. Linnean Soc. (London), Zool., Nov. 

 1899, 514, 1900, placed the hares and rabbits in two super- 

 generic groups. One containing the genus Lepus included the 

 brown hares and their allies of Europe and Asia, the jack rabbits 



1 Abnormal specimens are not unknown both of rabbits and hares in which the 

 external ears are defective or absent, and there are two such examples of rabbits in 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, placed there by Tegetmeier, and for 

 particulars of which I am indebted to Burne. See Milroy, Field, 9th January 1904, 

 51 ; Bird, Field, 30th January 1904, 139. 



