230 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



"Swellings known to hunters as 'water boils* 

 are found in a very considerable proportion of 

 hares. So far as I have observed, they do not 

 occur in the smaller species, the brush rabbit 

 and the cottontail, of which I have examined 

 several hundred specimens. .'. . 



"Tapeworms are exceedingly common, most 

 animals harboring one or more, either in the 

 perfect or larval state, but they are rare in the 

 reptiles. Their life-history is tolerably well 

 known; those which belong properly to the 

 carnivora pass their larval stage in the flesh of 

 some herbivorous animal which is the natural 

 prey to its future host. 



"The natural hosts of the ccenurus [tape- 

 worm] of the hare are probably the dog and the 

 wolf. A hare badly infested with ccenurus be- 

 comes swollen and deformed, and as the loins 

 and thighs are attacked by preference his 

 powers of locomotion are seriously impaired. 

 In this condition he falls an easy prey to his 

 hereditary foe, the coyote. 



"The coyote swallows not only the hare, but 

 its ten thousand contained larvse, a circumstance 

 which would undoubtedly give his victim a 



