THE RABBIT PEST AT THE ANTIPODES. 323 



probably has ever equalled the plague of Rabbits from which, 

 through man's folly, the colonists in Australia and New Zealand 

 are now suffering. The introduction and, so-called, " acclimati- 

 sation" of the Eabbit in Australia, so far from proving, as was 

 expected, a blessing, by increasing the food supply for colonists, 

 has proved to be a curse, by ruining the sheep-runs upon which 

 the wealth of the country mainly depended, and destroying the 

 vegetation throughout many fertile districts. 



The Report of Mr. Morgan, the United States Consul-General 

 at Melbourne, Victoria, in 1886, furnishes the best account we 

 have seen of the introduction of the Rabbit into Australia, and 

 the disastrous results which followed. From this Report we 

 learn that, although tame Rabbits were brought to the colonies 

 in very early years, it was not until 18G0 that the common grey 

 Wild Rabbit was (so far as can be authoritatively ascertained) 

 introduced by a large landed proprietor in the western district of 

 Victoria for the purpose of sport. From this western district 

 they spread "to the stony rises between Colac and Camperdown, 

 in which place the splendid cover afforded them caused their 

 rapid increase, and they multiplied with such astounding rapidity 

 as literally to overrun all that portion of country. 



In Charles Darwin's celebrated Essay " On the tendency of 

 Species to form Varieties,"* the following passage occurs (p. 47) : 

 — " Where man has introduced plants and animals into a new 

 and favourable country, there are many accounts in how 

 surprisingly few years the whole country has become stocked 

 with them." Had these lines been penned a few years later 

 than the date of their publication, the writer could have 

 found no better illustration than the history of the Rabbit in 

 Australia. 



Some time after 1860, Rabbits were taken to other parts of 

 Victoria, and were soon found in the neighbourhood of Horsham, 

 spreading thence into the Mallee country, extending north-east 

 to Swan Hill. The country west and north of Horsham being 

 exceedingly favourable to them, consisting of sand-hills, pine- 

 ridges, and scrub, they increased there greatly, and have done 

 serious damage to croj)S during the past few years, principally 

 since 1874. 



' : Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. iii. pp. 45 — G2 (1858). 



2 C 2 



