THE RABBIT. 3 



vertebral column of the rabbit, is of course the skull, con- 

 taining the anterior portion of the nerve -axis, the brain 

 (fig. 1). Between the head and what is called " the 

 body," in the more restricted sense of the word, is the neck. 

 The neck gives freedom of movement to the head, enables 

 the animal to look this way and that, to turn its ears 

 about to determine the direction of a sound, and to perform 

 easily endless motions in connexion with biting and so 

 forth. We may note that in types which swim through 

 the water in the fish and frog, for instance there is no 

 neck, the head simply widening out as it passes back to 

 the body. The high resistance offered by water necessitates 

 this tendency to a cigar outline, just as it has determined 

 the cigar shape of an ordinary boat or ship. 



In the remainder of the trunk of the rabbit, as examined 

 from the outside, we can make out by feeling two distinct 

 regions, just as we might in that of a man ; anteriorly a 

 bony cage, having the ribs at the sides, a rod-like bone, 

 the sternum (fig. 1), on its ventral surface (i.e. below in 

 the natural position of life), and the backbone dorsally 

 (above), and called the chest or thorax ; and posteriorly a 

 part called the abdomen, which has no bony protection over 

 its belly, or ventral surface. These parts together with the 

 neck constitute the trunk. Corresponding to these divisions 

 of the body, there are four regions in the backbone: the 

 neck, or cervical part, consisting of seven vertebrae, the 

 thoracic part of twelve joined to ribs, the abdominal (also 

 called the lumbar) region of seven without ribs, and the 

 tail or caudal of about fifteen. Between the lumbar and 

 caudal come four vertebrae, the sacral, which tend to run 

 together into a bony mass as the animal grows old, and 

 which form a firm attachment for the base of the hind 

 limb. 



3. The Limbs. The rabbit has two pairs of limbs. 

 The short strong fore limbs are adapted to the burrowing 

 habit, and have five digits ; the hind limbs are very much 

 longer, enabling the animal to progress rapidly by short 

 leaps, and they have ojir__ioe8, the one corresponding to 

 the great toe of man being absent. In the great majority 



