56 Proceedings of the Rot/al Irish Academy. 



instances. Among the Lemming's hones and teeth from the Clare eav 

 Mr. Hinton has found a few which belong to still another Lemming, viz., 

 D. gviielmi. It is also referred to in the paper by Mr. Hinton, cited above. 



Irish Hai;e i Lepus Mbermcus). 



The Irish hare is now generally recognised as distinct from the Variable 

 Hare (Lepus timidus, L. = L. variabilis. Pall). Irish hare bones were 

 Frequently met with in all parts of tin- Cave, most of them being in a frag- 

 mentary state. A Bingle skull fragment (M.l>. ■"■ I'm was discovered. The 

 Largest fossil humerus of the Irish bare hitherto examined measured 109 mill, 

 in length. In this cave 1 nut iced one (M.l>. L'i'.'i measuring 113 mill. Since 

 I wrote my report on the exploration of the caves of Co. Clare,' a very 

 important paper by Mr. Hinton on the Lepus variabilis group has been 

 published. 1 Mr. Bin ton's contribution deals primarily, with the Hare 

 remains discovered in the famous bone-fissure of Ightham, in Kent; but the 

 relationships and origins of the various allied species are fully discussed in 

 the Kghl of the author's special researches into this subject. His conclusion 

 that the south of England was ool less mild in Pleistocene times, when the 

 Variable Hare lived there, than it is at present, is of importance, and agrees 

 with the views I have lilted mi various occasions. 5 



There are other points in Mi. Hinton's paper, in which 1 differ from him. 

 The most highly specialized forms, as he remarks, arc in general those living 

 furthest from their original centre of dispersion. As the Arctic species of 

 the _ mp of hares are more specialized than the British and Irish 



forms, he concludes that the group cannot have had a boreal origin. 

 Although this appears to be a logical conclusion. I venture to adhere to the 

 older and opposite opinion thai the va group of hares has had a boreal 



origin. In order to put the theory to a thorough test we ought to include 

 the Alpine. Pyrenean, and Asiatic forms of this hare in our survey. Even 

 if we limit our comparison, as Mr. Hinton has done, to the boreal and 

 Britannic forms, the facts noticed by him need not be interpreted by the 

 assumption that the car group had a southern origin. Mr. Hinton 



admits that the Greenland form owes its specialization to climatic causes. 

 A- we proceed northwards to colder climes he says (p. 262) the peripheral 

 parts of the animal tend to diminish in size on account of the cold. The 



1 Scharff, I'ssher, and others: "Exploration of the Caves of Co. Clare." Trans. 

 R. I. Acad, vol. \xxiii (Sect. B), p. 47. Hum; 



'Hinton, H. A. C. : "On the fossil hare of Ightham." Scient. Proc. R. Dublin 

 Society (N.S.) vol. xii. 19l»9. 



3 Scharff, U. P. : •• European animals," pp. 139, 14o. London, 1907. 



