256 LEPORIDiE— LEPUS 



Cephalonia, and in Cyprus are two closely allied hares, L. creticus of 

 Barrett-Hamilton and L. cyprius of Barrett-Hamilton. The former is 

 a comparatively small hare (hind feet, 120 to 135 mm.), with relatively 

 long ears ; the latter is similar, but has the cheeks and ears suffused 

 with buff. 



The eastern boundaries of the range of L. europceus are still very 

 imperfectly known, and from the Talysh and Mugan steppes Satunin 

 has described L. cyrensis, a form of doubtful affinity, while in the East, 

 in parts of Asia Minor, Egypt, and North Africa, occur a number of 

 species, the relationships of which still require elucidation. 



Amongst the countries where L. europceus has been introduced are 

 La Plata (Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., March 1910, 246), New 

 Zealand (Macpherson, The Hare, 7), Barbadoes (Wallace, Encyc. Brit., 

 nth ed., art. "Acclimatisation"), and Jersey, where, however, it may 

 have been previously indigenous (Bunting). 



[L. europceus is said to have died out in Switzerland and to have been 

 reintroduced ; some specimens of the new stock in the collections of the 

 British Museum of Natural History are of the sub-species occidentalism 



In the British Islands L. europceus occidentalis is not indigenous to 

 Ireland, but, where not persecuted, is abundant throughout England, 

 Wales, and Scotland, except on the higher parts of the mountains. 

 It does not object to the vicinity of towns and villages, and Boyd 

 Watt has seen one inside Queen's Park, Glasgow. It was plentiful 

 in some of the London parks until some time in the nineteenth century, 

 there being records of the capture of one in Hyde Park in 1809, and 

 of coursing matches held in Regent's Park between 1824 and 1828 

 (Harting, Essays on Sport and Nat. Hist., 1883, 234-235). One was killed 

 at Hammersmith in 1892 (Cornish, Shooting, 1903, ii., 161), and another 

 in fields surrounded by houses between Walm-lane and Brondesbury 

 Station (Bulleid, Field, 24th June 1899, 907). There is, however, 

 almost unanimous testimony amongst local naturalists that its 

 numbers, although now, perhaps, again on the upgrade, have been 

 much reduced since the passing of the Ground Game Act of 

 1880. Before that date its abundance in some districts was quite 

 extraordinary, and the damage done to farmers must have been 

 very great. To give a Scottish instance, it was stated that in 

 Kincardineshire (Robertson's Agricult. Surv. Kincardineshire, 1807, 

 quoted by Sim), hares " are incredibly numerous, abounding in many 

 parts in dozens in every field. I am fully persuaded that there are 

 many more Hares than Sheep in this country, only they have changed 

 places. The great body of Sheep are sent to pick up a scanty 

 subsistence on the barren hills ; but the Hares, left to the freedom 

 of their own will, prefer to live at their ease in the low and rich 

 parts of the country. Without having seen it, one could hardly con- 



