216 LEPORID.E. 



Naturae rerum paupertas, ut depravatione formarum va- 

 rietatem sibi quserere velit ; estque, ut omnia probant, 

 imaginaria haec specierum transmutatio." We can now 

 add to the proofs of the stability of generic and specific 

 characters which Pallas might have derived from the orga- 

 nization of the Siberian species of Lagomys, the fact that 

 a species of that genus whose chief external characters 

 might be explained by hypothetical degeneration of the 

 ears, hind-legs, and tail of the Hare, claims as high an 

 antiquity as any species of the true genus Lepus. 



Remains of a Lagomys were discovered by Professor 

 Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison in a lacustrine deposit at 

 CEningen, associated, like the Pika of Kenfs Hole, with 

 a species of Fox, indistinguishable from that now exist- 

 ing, and affording another of those instructive examples 

 which exhibit a gradual passage from an ancient Fauna, 

 or animal population, to that which now prevails. 



