LEPUS 297 



Worlds. There are, however, so many resemblances, albeit so 

 dimly shown, that it seems safe to attribute them to ancestral 

 divisions of great antiquity, which existed in the family 

 before the separation of the two continents, and which have 

 since been obscured by fresh developments in independent 

 directions. This suggestion is borne out by the occurrence of 

 Oryctolagus lacosti in the upper Pliocene of France and Italy, 

 thus showing that the Old World Oryctolagus is more ancient 

 than Lepus, and has existed as such from pliocene times, just 

 as true Leptts is, locally at least, more ancient than Eulagos. 



According to the above view, the American cottontails 

 and the European rabbits may be regarded as two branches 

 of one group, which stands nearer than any of the northern 

 hares to the original ancestor of all the Lcporidcz. Their white 

 flesh may be regarded as a primitive character, since the 

 meat of leverets is lighter than that of adults ; it is surely of 

 importance in indicating affinity, but in other respects the 

 two branches have developed to very different degrees. Thus, 

 whereas the cottontails have acquired only to a limited extent 

 the habit of burrowing, in rabbits the practice is almost invari- 

 able, but, as stated on p. 172, it is unaccompanied by any special 

 modification in a fossorial direction, thus indicating that the 

 art of digging has been acquired in comparatively recent times, 

 in compensation for lack of speed and staying power. In all 

 the Leporidcz the power of consuming and digesting a compara- 

 tively coarse and innutritious food has been highly developed, 

 and in this respect rabbits are in no way inferior to hares. 



Status: — It has been shown above that the varying hares 

 are a relic of an older fauna, hence they probably stand nearer 

 their common ancestor than the brown hares. It is consequently 

 not surprising to find them exhibiting certain resemblances to 

 the still more ancient rabbits, namely, in their skull, their soft 

 pelage, short ears, and even in their greater inclination to 

 burrow a little. But, on the other hand, in every other 

 aspect of their conformation they must be regarded as distinctly 

 the most specialised British hares. 



Winge (Gronlands Pattedyr, 1902, 358) finds specialisation 

 in their comparatively regular assumption of a white winter coat. 

 Hinton notes further specialisation in the narrower, stronger, 

 vol. 11. u 



