LEPUS.] MAMMALIA GLIRES. 35 



DESCRIPT. Head thick and large: inside of the cheeks hairy; eyes 

 placed laterally, large and prominent ; ears longer than the head : limbs 

 slender, much longer behind than before : soles of the feet hairy. Fur 

 composed of a fine down with longer hairs intermixed, of a tawny gray or 

 rusty brown colour, the red tint prevailing in certain parts more than in 

 others ; each individual hair gray at the roots, black in the middle, and 

 tawny at the tip ; abdomen, inside of the thighs, and a transverse patch 

 beneath the lower jaw, white ; ears externally cinereous towards the base 

 of the outer margin, above that colour a black spot reaching to the ex- 

 tremity of the auricle : tail black above, white underneath. 



Vox. /?. Irish Hare. Yarr. in Proceed, of Zool. Soc. (1833) p. 88. 

 Head shorter and more rounded than in the Common Hare ; ears shorter, 

 not equalling the head in length; limbs less lengthened; fur composed 

 of only one sort of hair, the long dark hairs, observable in the English 

 Hare, being wanting. 



Frequents chiefly open fields. Feeds entirely on vegetables, coming 

 abroad in the evening for that purpose. Breeds frequently in the year. 

 Goes with young thirty days, and produces from one to four, rarely five, 

 at a time. Young born with their eyes open, and the body clothed with 

 fur. When full grown, has been known to weigh thirteen pounds one 

 ounce and a half. 



Var. /3, which is the only Hare found in Ireland, might almost deserve 

 to be considered as a distinct species. From the shortness and inferior 

 quality of the hair, its fur is useless in trade. 



51. L. Cuniculus, Linn. (Rabbet.) Brownish gray, 

 mixed with tawny : ears scarcely longer than the head : 

 tail brown above, white beneath. 



L. Cuniculus, Desm. Mammal, p. 348. Flem. Brit. An. p. 21. 

 Rabbet, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 104. pi. 10. no. 22. Show* 

 Gen. Zool vol. n. p. 204. pi. 162. 



DIMENS. Length of the head and body sixteen inches ; of the head 

 three inches four lines ; of the ears three inches six lines ; of the tail 

 three inches. 



DESCRIPT. Approaching the last species in general appearance, but 

 with the ears and hind legs proportionably shorter : fur of a less ferru- 

 ginous colour ; the general tint brownish gray, or dusky brown, with the 

 nape reddish ; throat and abdomen white ; ears gray, without the black 

 spot at the extremity ; tail dusky brown above, white beneath. In the 

 domesticated state the colours vary extremely. 



Resides in holes under ground. Like the Hare, comes abroad in the 

 evening to feed. Still more prolific than that species, breeding repeat- 

 edly in the year, and producing from four to eight at a litter. Young 

 blind and naked at birth. 



52. L. albusy Briss. (Alpine Hare.) Dusky gray 

 in summer, with a tinge of tawny ; white in winter : ears 

 shorter than the head, always black at the extremity. 



L. albus, Briss. Reg. An. p. 139. L. variabilis, Flem. Brit. An. 

 p. 22. Alpine Hare, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 102. pi. 10. 

 no. 21. Varying Hare, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. n. p. 201. 



DIMENS. Length of the head and body twenty-one inches six lines ; 

 of the head four inches six lines ; of the ears three inches three lines 



c2 



