THE IRISH HARE 335 



the head comparatively thicker and shorter, and the ears apparently 

 shorter than the females. 



Local variation : — There is a general impression amongst sports- 

 men that hares inhabiting the mountains differ from those found in 

 the plains, but little definite information is available. Kinahan, 

 writing of Connemara, mentioned " the short, small hares that do not 

 seem to care for running and always dodge about between the rocks 

 and crags " in contrast to the " long springing sort, that will run when 

 started" of the Banneobela range {Land and Water) ; and Whyte 

 suggested that the hares of the heathery mountains of Galway are not 

 identical with those of the green limestone {op. cit. supra). Further 

 study on this and other kindred points is desirable. 



Skull (range of five specimens of both sexes) : — Occipito-nasal 

 length, 91 to 98-6; condylo-basal length, 82 to 86; zygomatic breadth, 

 44-4 to 48-4 ; breadth at inter-orbital constriction, 22 to 23-4 ; 

 breadth at post-orbital constriction, 14 to 17-6 ; breadth of brain-case, 

 32 to 33-8 ; nasals (measured diagonally), 39-4 to 42-8 ; greatest 

 breadth of both nasals together, 19-4 to 22-1 ; length of diastema, 

 26 to 28-4; length of mandible, 73-4 to 74; length of maxillary 

 tooth-row, 18 to 18-8; length of mandibular tooth-row, 18-6 to 19-2. 



Weight (in pounds and ounces) : — Fully adult females in good 

 condition killed on the rich, low-lying pastures of Kilmanock, Co. 

 Wexford, may reach 9 or a little more, the heaviest ever handled 

 being nearly 9 4 , but these weights are exceptional and, as shown in 

 the tables, the average is much less. The largest bucks are lighter, 

 the two heaviest being only 8. The above figures are probably true 

 of lowland hares all over Ireland, since Pomeroy {op. cit. supra, p. 333) 

 gives 9 as the limit for Galway, with good hares slightly exceeding 8, 

 but a great many little over half that weight, especially on the heather, 

 where Whyte also found them lighter than on the green hills (see Field, 

 25th July 1874, 87, a very similar note to Pomeroy's). From Monaghan, 

 Kane wrote me that they " run to a great weight, sometimes 9 lbs. and 

 even more." Sixty-three killed at Ballypatrick averaged 7, but in 

 Glenarm Park demesne, both in Co. Antrim, they often reach 9 (Lord 

 Antrim, per Robert Patterson). The introduced hares of Mull are also 

 said to equal about the same weight ; according to Millais they 

 frequently scale 8, and the largest known 9. 



Weights greater than 9 must be very rare, but Meade-Waldo 

 informs me that in the winter of 1895 he received one (sex not stated) 

 scaling 10, from Ards, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal ; Lord Antrim 

 has known of a single one reaching a similar figure in Glenarm 

 Park demesne, and these would appear to hold the record for the 

 species. 



It will be noted from the tables that several males of 6 and two females 



