238 LEPORIDyE— LEPUS 



several crosses resulted ; and Millais states that he himself 

 once shot no fewer than six of the hybrids. In Sweden 

 the actual pairing of the Brown and Blue Hares has been 

 observed by sportsmen, and Lonnberg has described the 

 resulting hybrids, which are stated to be numerous, and per- 

 haps fertile when interbreeding amongst themselves. They 

 are, however, most plentiful immediately after an introduction of 

 Brown Hares into the territory of the Blue, the first meeting 

 of the two species — the current belief that they are antagonistic 

 notwithstanding — seeming to lead to irregular alliances. As 

 they become accustomed to each other, hybridism decreases. 



In spite of what has been written above, most of the 

 specimens reported as hybrids are either large Blue Hares, 

 or Brown Hares in the grey pelage. A few, however, show 

 characters intermediate between the two species, and are, there- 

 fore to be regarded as correctly named. There are three such 

 in the British Museum of Natural History, all from Scotland, 

 viz.. No. 63.8.23.1, an old skin from Inverness; No. 2. 11.28. i, 

 a male from Craigmyle, Aberdeen; and No. 6.12. 26.1, a male 

 from Capernoch, Thornhill, Dumfries. In all three the ear is 

 longer than in the Blue Hare, the colour pattern similar to but 

 less distinct than that of the Brown Hare, and the tail short as 

 in the Blue, but with a central black dorsal area as in the 

 Brown. Harvie-Brown has also recently forwarded two speci- 

 mens, of which the characters, both external and cranial, appear 

 to indicate hybridity. 



The much more improbable interbreeding of hares and rabbits 

 has been even more frequently reported, especially on the Con- 

 tinent, and the credence which such reports have received may 

 have been due to the inducements offered by the numbers of 

 people who are willing to pay a high price for a "leporide." 

 Although " Leporides " are mentioned by Charles Darwin 

 [Animals and Plants under Domestication, 1868, i., 105) in one 

 of his arguments, and actually received the technical name of 

 Lepus darwinii from Haeckel {Hist, de la Creation des Hres 

 organises, 1874, 131), no proof has yet been advanced that two 

 such naturally antipathetic animals, having such diverse struc- 

 ture, habits, glandular secretions and odours, and such entirely 

 different young, have ever united and produced offspring. 



