20 LEPOUID^. 



quoted from the British Quadrupeds correctly applies ; the subject having been, 

 for the lirst lime, introduced to the scientific world at the period to which allu- 

 sion has been made. 



" With the club of the Linnsean Society I happened to dine upon the day on 

 which the specimens were received from Lord Derby (then Lord Stanley), and 

 on the evening of which the subject of the Irish hare was first brought forward. 

 On being questioned by the chairman, I had then the pleastn-e of stating, as a 

 fact well known in the North of Ireland, all the external and likewise the culi- 

 nary differences* existing between the hares of the two countries ; but, at the 

 same time, added, that we regarded the hare of Ireland only as a very distinct 

 and well-marked variety of Leptis tiniidus. Further than this, as has been already 

 noticed, INIr. Yarrcll and Jlr. Jenyns did not go, Mr. Bell being the first to 

 characterize it as a species. f That it really is such, I became at once satisfied, 

 on a very minute examination of Scotch and Irish specimens towards the end of 

 1833. About this time my friend, Mr. Yarrell, requested from me the fullest 

 information on the animal, preparatory to his drawing up a paper on it, and for 

 him such facts as I was conversant with were reserved, knowing, as I did, that 

 in such truly able hands the subject must be judiciously treated. In furtherance 

 of the inquiry, I had, at that time, the pleasure of transmitting him a specimen 

 of the animal, and of presenting others to the British Museum. In consequence 

 of Mr. Yarrell having now relinquished this intention, I am induced to bring 

 together here such particulars of the history, &c., of this animal as are known 

 to me. 



" In consulting the Mammalogie of Desmarest, and Synopsis Jlammalium of 

 Fischer, the two latest general works upon the subject, I find that there is not 

 any species oi Lepiis described, corresponding to the hare of Ireland, nor is there 

 such in any other work to which I have had access. The species known on the 

 continent of Europe are but two in number, both of which, the Lepus timidus 

 and Lepus variabilis, are natives of the British Islands. Between these species 

 only, and the hare of Ireland, does it seem necessary to draw any comparison. 

 Considered in connexion with them, it holds, in several points of view, both as 

 to form and colour, such as the relative length of ears to head, length of tail, in 

 assuming a white garb (though not periodically), &c., an intermediate place. 

 The habits of the Alpine hare, together with the localities to which it is re- 

 stricted, are very different from those of the Irish species ; the latter animal, in 

 these respects, exactly agreeing with the Lepus tiniidus. 



" Specimens of the hare of Ireland and of Scotland, from the approximating 

 counties of Down and Wigton, and examined in a recent state, presented the 

 following differences : — J 



Templeton, in which criticisms on the works he read and observations on pass- 

 ing events, as well as on objects of natural history, are recorded, I find the fol- 

 lowing note under date of Jan. 10, 1S07. With reference to the different quality 

 of the fur in hares mentioned in Lessep's Travels in Kamtschatka, it is remarked 

 — •" It is known that the Scotch hares have a fine wool fit for making hats, 

 while the fur of the Irish hare is not accounted of any use." 



* The Scotch and English hares are, at every age, and for all culinary pur- 

 poses, generally esteemed superior as food to the Irish. 



t In the article " Hare," published in the British Cyclopaedia of Natural 

 History (1836), it is likewise so mentioned, — vol. ii. p. 705. In a note contri- 

 buted by the late E. T. Bennet, in his edition of White's Selborne (1837), it is 

 remarked that " Ireland has also its peculiar hare," — p. 128. 



X The males were obtained in February ; the females in December. The 

 latter are in both species generally larger than the males. 



