176 LEPORID^— ORYCTOLAGUS 



THE RABBIT OR CONY. 



ORYCTOLAGUS CUNICULUS (Linn^us). 



1666. CUNICULUS, a Coney, Christopher Merrett, Pinax, 168. 



1693. "CUNICULUS, Aao-uTrSs, a Rabit or Coney,'' John Ray, Synopsis Methodica 



AnimaUum Quadrupedum, etc., 205. 

 1758. Lepus CUNICULUS, Carolus Linnaeus, Systetna Natures, x., 58 ; xii., 77, 1766; 



described from Europa australi, i.e., probably Europe south of Sweden ; Berken- 



hout ; Turton ; Bingley ; Fleming ; Jenyns ; MacGillivray ; Keyserling and 



Blasius ; Clermont ; Flower and Lydekker ; Lydekker ; Millais. 

 1790. CUNICULUS CAMPESTRIS, F. A. A. Meyer, Mag. fiir Tkiergeschichte, i., i, 52-53, 



renaming L. cuniculus of Linnseus ; not Lepus campestris of Bachman, 1837. 

 1820. Lepus CANICULUS, E. Donovan, Natural History of British Quadrupeds, etc., 



plate xviii. (includes both tame and wild forms). 

 1837. Lepus vernicularis, William Thompson, The Athenaum, 468 ; named 



from Ireland, but without description, hence a notnen nudum. 

 1 842. Cuniculus dasypu.s, C. W. L. Gloger, Gemeinniitziges Hand- und Hilssbuch 



der Naturgeschichte, i., 104, renaming L. cuniculus of Linnaeus. 

 1867. Cuniculus fodiens, J. E. Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., September, 225, 



from Klein. 

 1874. Oryctolagus cuniculus, W. Lilljeborg, Sveriges och Norges Ryggradsdjur, 



i., 417 and 441 ; Trouessart ; Forsyth Major; Thomas (1903); Johnston; Lyon; 



Nelson ; Trouessart (1910). 



Le Lapin of the French ; das Kaninchen of the Germans. 



Sex names : — Buck and doe. 



The sjmonymy is that of the Wild Rabbit, a subject which, apart 

 from the use of the term Oryctolagus, already treated under the heading 

 of the genus, is usually considered to be quite simple. Thomas has, 

 however, shown in Proc. Zool. Soc. (London), 1911, 145, that in the 

 earlier editions of Linnseus's Systema NaturcB (as the 6th, 9, No. 2), the 

 description of Lepus cuniculus was clearly based on an albino domestic 

 rabbit with red eyes — pupillis rubris. Later on Linnaeus became 

 acquainted with the Wild Rabbit, and the words pupillis rubris no 

 longer appear in his loth edition. Instead, the sentence " Habitat 

 in Europa australi," indicates that Linnaeus, disregarding his original 

 intention, now meant to indicate the Wild Rabbit, which is fortunate 

 for posterity, as, if it had been necessary to regard the word cuniculus 

 as applicable only to a domestic rabbit, a confusing change in 

 nomenclature could hardly have been avoided. It is remarkable that, 

 long before the era of nomenclatural troubles, Linnseus's meaning was 

 discussed by Daines Barrington {Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, London, 

 Ixii., 1772). 



The technical name or names of the domestic forms of rabbit 

 are not of importance for present purposes. The name nigripes applied 



