

RABBIT. 113 



from the Isle of Mull ; and the Raasay Bank Vole (E. erica) 

 from Raasay Island, Skye. Barrett- Hamilton regards these as 

 descendants of a former "Boreal" group of Voles, which have 

 been supplanted on the British mainland by the competition of 

 the Bank Vole. 



Rabbit (Oryefofagus cuniculus^ Linn.). 



The Rabbits and the Hares being comparatively large and 

 familiar members of our native fauna do not appear to stand in 

 need of much space being devoted to them. Familiar as the 

 two common species may be they require to be distinguished 

 not only one from the other, but also from the two other and 

 less familiar species, and in addition there may be a few facts 

 of organisation and habit that are not well-known to all our 

 readers. All members of the family Leporidae, there are certain 

 structural features in which they all agree in a general way. 

 They belong to the section of Rodents known as Duplicidentata, 

 because in the upper jaw there are always two pairs of incisors. 

 All the other Rodents have only one pair, and they form the 

 division Simplicidentata. The dentition of the Rabbits and 

 Hares is therefore as follows : i f , c g, p f , m = 28. 



The ears are remarkably long and out of all proportion to the 

 size of the body when compared with other Mammals. If laid 

 forward over the face they reach nearly to the tip of the nose. 

 The eyes are large and prominent and placed well to the sides 

 of the head. The hinder legs are longer than the fore legs, and 

 so greatly developed as to be the main propelling power. In- 

 stead of pads on the soles to protect the foot and legs from the 

 jars incidental to hard running, the Leporidae have all the feet 

 covered beneath with a thick coating of hair which gives a firm 

 grip either on hard rock or slippery snow. The tail is very short 

 and turned up. The fur is of triple formation : there is a 

 dense, soft, woolly underfur, through which push longer and 

 stronger hairs and give the coat its colour, and a still longer but 



A.L. I 



