THE RABBIT OR CONY 193 



Distribution in time .: — Bones identified by tiieir finders as those of 

 the Rabbit, have been found in numbers of caves and in other deposits, 

 chiefly in Great Britain, but also in Ireland. In most cases the remains 

 were associated with others belonging to undoubtedly pleistocene 

 species, but the Rabbit being a burrowing animal, fond of investigating 

 cemeteries, its bones are usually open to the strong suspicion of being 

 of recent origin, especially as their appearance is frequently fresh. 

 This is the case with the bones found at Ightham and Longcliffe. Those 

 found in the Kesh caves of Co. Sligo are certainly recent (Scharff, Trans. 

 Roy. Irish Acad., xxxii., B., iv., 200, September 1903), and are absent 

 from the earlier strata. In a few instances, however, as at Kent's 

 Cavern, the remains appear to be in the same state of preservation 

 as those of undoubtedly early pleistocene mammals (Sanford, Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc, London, xxvi., 1870, 138), and have been accepted as 

 their contemporaries. Nine also of those found in the late pleistocene 

 caves of Co. Clare are stated to have presented unmistakable signs of 

 "antiquity" (Scharff, Trans, cit., xxxiii., B., i, 39, February 1906), and to 

 have belonged to an animal having shorter fore-limbs than the modern 

 Rabbit. But it is so difficult to tell the antiquity or age of individuals 

 of this burrowing rodent, that it were well to regard with suspicion results 

 based solely on appearance or length of bones. It may, however, be 

 regarded as certain that a rabbit, closely resembling and not hitherto 

 distinguished from O. cuniculus, was a member of the Early English 

 pleistocene fauna ; it was also present in that of central and western 

 continental Europe, where it is traceable back to an ancestor, Lepus 

 lacosti of Pomel {Catalogue MModique, 1853, 44) in the upper pliocene 

 of France. It died out, and became, as shown above, restricted to a 

 quite small tract in south-western Europe, and did not again appear in 

 its pleistocene haunts until a comparatively recent date. The above 

 view was formed by Rolleston {Sci. Papers and Addresses, i., 335-336). 

 Since then Forsyth Major, while preparing his still unpublished catalogue 

 of fossil rodents in the British Museum, and more recently Hinton also 

 [in lit.), have arrived at the same conclusion. 



The disappearance of the Rabbit is believed to have been caused 

 by the cold (which means, probably, the snow) of the Glacial Period. Its 

 return to Britain must undoubtedly have been due to introduction by 

 man, but it is possible, since present conditions are so favourable to 

 its existence, that it made its way north to portions of central Europe 

 unaided. The increase of its numbers and extension of its geographical 

 range may have been due to the spread of tillage and the reduction of 

 wild forested districts, helped by the destruction of carnivorous beasts 

 and birds. These factors, especially the latter, must certainly have 

 accounted in no inconsiderable measure for its recent increase in 

 Scotland. A northern extension of the range of the cottontails of 



