230 MR. F. H. WELCH ON LEPUS AMERICANUS, [Apr. 8, 
at their insertion into the skin, divisible mto two varieties as to 
length and colour,—the one, in the minority, entirely black, average 
length 1,2; inch; the other, black at extreme tip, succeeded down- 
wards in the shaft by a well-defined tawny band again merging into 
black, which bo into light brown at the attached extremity, ave- 
rage length ;, inch. The delicate, wavy, flocculent undergrowth i is 
of a slaty Ma passing into reddish brown at the free extremity, and 
of an average length of 3 inch; the commingling of the hairs in 
situ produces five zones of colour in the coat, viz. (proceeding from 
within outwards) slaty blue, reddish brown, brownish black, tawny, 
black. On the underparts the components of the fur are the same, 
of finer texture; the pile being entirely white lightens the hue of 
the undergrowth, which is slaty blue. No undergrowth is present 
on the ears, except at the base, and is very slight on the head and 
feet, especially on the treading-surface ; here the hairs are of the 
same length, wavy in outline, and wiry in character. On the head, 
ears, and feet the pile is made up only of the shorter coloured hairs ; 
at the nape of the neck only the undergrowth is present. 
The autumnal coat is characterized by an increase in length of 
the outer hairs and undergrowth, generally over the whole body, and 
more appreciable as winter approaches. 
About the commencement of October the first indications of the 
hybernal change are to be detected: the nose and lips assume an 
iron-grey aes from the presence of white hairs; many of the 
whiskers are white at the tip or some portion of the shaft ; ; a patch 
of white hairs, twenty to thirty in number, of the size of a split-pea, 
forms on the centre of the forehead* ; white hairs become apparent 
on the edges of the ears outside and at their junction with the neck, 
while on the inside a crop of downy white fluff springs up; a few 
of the longer hairs of the pile of the back, especially towards the tail, 
are observed to be blanched wholly, or only at the tips, while the 
greater part of the smaller kind are brown at the tip, with the tawny 
band of the shaft much lighter in colour or even white ; the anterior 
surface of the feet, especially of the hind ones, is mottled with white. 
Thus far the most careful examination fails to elicit any addition 
to the autumnal coat, the change being superficial and entirely de- 
pendent on an alteration of colour in existent hairs; the hind feet 
are the most advanced, then the ears and muzzle, lastly the back. 
During November this surface-change gradually deepens in intensity, 
especially around the tail, and on the feet, ears, and face (on the 
latter by a white streak extending from nose to eyes and upwards to 
the ears), and is accompanied by a deeper one of a much more potent 
character ; for on separating the fur a thick crop of white stiff hairs 
(first apparent at the root of the tail) is to be detected springing up 
over the back and sides. These hairs, at first extremely minute and 
entirely of a new growth, rapidly increase in length, accompanied by 
an advance in the superficial changes above mentioned ; soon they are 
* “ Fancy Rabbits have often a white star on the forehead, and so has the 
young of L. americanus, like the English Hare” (Darwin, Animals and Plants 
under Domestication, vol. i. p. 140). 
