190 LEPORID^E— ORYCTOLAGUS 



Synode (now Synot), the last writer noticed " abundance of rabbits, 

 whereof here there are too many, so as they pester the ground." Later, 

 Arthur Young, whose well-known "Tour in Ireland" took place during 

 the years 1776- 1779, noted the price of them in many parts of the 

 country. 



Distribution : — For the present distribution of the Rabbit, see that of 

 its genus (above, p. 173). It has, however, been artificially introduced 

 by man into so many localities all over the world that it is difficult to 

 exactly define the boundaries of the areas where it is indigenous. 

 In many cases it multiplies so exceedingly after introduction that, 

 as in Australia, it has become a national plague. It will not, however, 

 thrive in the Arctic regions, nor in the north of Europe generally, not 

 even in the south of Norway, probably in consequence of the 

 depth of snow that covers the ground in winter. Thus, as Winge 

 informs me, although sometimes introduced, it has never become 

 established in Denmark, and the exact degree of north latitude at 

 which it will exist naturally in continental Europe has not been 

 defined. It may, however, be successfully introduced on islands, in 

 regions where it could not be established on the adjacent mainland, 

 and this is characteristic of it everywhere throughout its range. 



It is abundant in the Azores, Madeira, and the Salvage Islands, 

 the last of which lie between the Canaries and Madeira, and has 

 often been considered indigenous. But, since there is evidence that 

 the early Portuguese navigators carried live rabbits on board ship, 

 and that they turned them down at Porto Santo, a small island near 

 Madeira, in 141 8 or 1419 (see Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants 

 wider Domestication, 1868, i., 112), it is probable that the stock on 

 the other islands had a similar origin. Darwin was surprised to find 

 that the Porto Santo rabbits possessed characters sufficient, had he 

 not believed them to have originated since 1420, to " have ranked them 

 as a distinct species." But this is explained by the fact that they 

 belong to the small southern subspecies, O. c. huxleyi (Haeckel). 



It is certainly not indigenous to Africa. Lataste did not meet with 

 it on the mainland of Tunis, but found it abundant on islands off the 

 coast ; he also reported it as absent from the south of Algeria and the 

 Sahara. Cabrera has obligingly informed me that in his opinion it 

 is not a native of Morocco. It has been observed neither in the Riff, 

 nor on the coast about Mogador and southwards, nor in the country 

 between Mogador and Marrakesh. Although it certainly exists in the 

 Chafarina Islands, it owes its presence there to introduction by the 

 Spaniards. 



Whatever be the origin of the British stock of rabbits, they are 

 now probably the most vigorous, prolific, and abundant mammal in the 

 islands, exclusive of the Brown Rat, the (true) mice, and the Common 



