'268 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIOJIS. [aNNO 1772. 



supposed by him to vary, whether exterior or interior. A hare however does not 

 exceed a rabbit so much in bulk, as a Patagonian does a Laplander, or a mastiff does 

 a lap-dog,which yet are not to be considered as differing in species. Besides this, 

 age, climate, and food, as well as other circumstances, often occasion great 

 distinction between animals of the same species, in point of bulk. The hare, 

 for example, which is found in most parts of North America, is a third less than 

 the European hare, and consequently is scarcely larger than our rabbit. 



The next criterion which Ray fixes on to disinguish the rabbit from the hare, 

 is that the latter burrows in the ground: this however only holds with regard t 

 the warren rabbit; for those called hedge rabbits seldom burrow, and many of 

 them sit in forms as hares do. The 3d and last is, that the flesh of the rabbit 

 is more white when dressed; which distinction is always to be found between the 

 European hare and rabbit, but it does not often happen that one can dress the 

 flesh of an animal which comes from another part of the globe; it is therefore a 

 criterion we can seldom have recourse to. 



Linnaeus, thus describes the rabbit in his Fauna Suecica. (Art. Lepus). 



Lepus Cuniculus, cauda abbreviata, auriculis nudatis. 



Lepus Cauda brevissima, pupillis rubris. 



With regard to the first circumstance of the cauda abbreviata, he equally applies 

 it to the hare in his Systema Naturae, published in 1 7^^^) and drops the cauda bre- 

 vissima of the Fauna Suecica; where in propriety the rabbit should not have 

 found a place, as it is not indigenous in Sweden, the climate being too cold for it. 

 Linnaeus therefore could only have described from a tame rabbit, which probably 

 had balder ears by some accident than common, as his next criterion is auriculis 

 nudatis. On examining a great number of rabbits, Mr. B. does not find that 

 their ears are balder than those of a hare; this "Zd circumstance therefore 

 establishes no specific difference. From the 3d and last particular which this 

 great naturalist relies on, Mr. B. also is convinced that the specimen before him 

 was not only a tame rabbit, but that its fur was either white or carroty, because 

 rabbits of these colours only have red pupils.* 



Accordingly, Linnaeus has omitted the pupillis rubris, as applied to the rabbit, 

 in the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae; but adds another distinction, which 

 will be found equally to fail. He there says, that the ears of a rabbit are shorter 

 than the head; whereas those of a hare are longer: which is a just observation, 

 when the warren rabbit is examined; but the tame rabbit, and particularly those 

 which are white or carroty, have ears that are considerably longer than their head, 



• I have examined a great number of rabbits thus coloured, which commonly have red pupils, 

 though I have seen some with black : the grey rabbit however never has eyes of a red colour. 

 When the white rabbits are very young, their eyes are often like a ferret's; but when they are grown 

 to their full size, the pupils are generally quite red. — Orig. 



