78 OBSERVATIONS ON QUADRUPEDS. 



auditorius was not discernible. This appeared to 

 have been a congenital defect, and not the result of 

 accident. 



RABBIT.* 



INSTANCES of the wild rabbit have occasionally 

 been met with at Bottisham, in which the fore-teeth 

 had grown to so great a length as to be rendered 

 wholly unfit for the purposes they are intended to 

 serve. This malformation is the result of the cutting 

 edges of these teeth not being sufficiently worn down 

 by use, or to the degree that they are in healthy in- 

 dividuals, and to supply which loss the teeth them- 

 selves are provided with the power of growth. But 

 the original cause of the evil may vary in different 

 cases. Thus, it may be due to one pair of incisors, 

 or one single incisor, being broken, or having fallen 

 out; to too soft food; to a morbid and too rapid 

 secretion of the osseous matter of the tooth, which is 

 constantly being deposited at its root ; or to some 

 slight derangement of the under-jaw, such as, for 

 instance, a dislocation of one of its condyles, whereby 

 the incisors of that jaw would be thrown out of their 

 proper position, and their cutting edges could not be 

 brought fairly into contact with those of the opposite 

 pair. In all these cases, either the attrition of the 

 teeth would be checked altogether, or their growth 

 would be over-proportioned to their abrasion by the 

 acts of gnawing and feeding, and a preternatural 

 elongation of that part which is above the gums 



* Lepus cuniculuSj Linn. 



