LEPUS 



243 



American naturalists, who are well acquainted with similar 

 growths in the cottontails inhabiting the dry regions of the 

 west. Thompson Seton (i., 672, and fig. 181) has figured the 

 head of a prairie hare carrying a pair of horns each about 3 in. 

 long, and distinctly resembling those of a roebuck. But there 

 may have been something wrong about this particular specimen, 

 of which he remarks that it was in a sealed glass case, so that 

 a close examination was impossible. The growths appeared to 

 be of real horn, and had no resemblance to those which he had 

 hitherto seen on " Rabbits " {i.e. hares). 



In any case, the existence of horned hares is now proved to 

 admit of a reasonable explanation, and it is possible that the 

 phenomenon may in Europe also be restricted to the drier 

 parts remote from the British Islands. The description of the 

 American "horns" by li&\aon [North Amer. Fauna, No. 29, 

 1909, 24) may be copied in its entirety :■ — " A more curious but 

 less serious disease is most common among cottontails west of 

 the Mississippi River. This is the growth of long, conical, horn- 

 like excrescences on the skin, usually on the head, which appear 

 to have a close similarity to warts and not to affect the general 

 health of the victim. These excrescences vary in number from 

 one to half a dozen and are an inch or two in length. They 

 stand out at right angles from the skin, and look like little 

 horns. Sometimes they grow symmetrically on the top and sides 

 of the head, giving the animal a remarkable appearance." 



The chase of hares has occupied the attention of mankind 

 from the remotest period of which there e:xists any record, and 

 the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians have left drawings of 

 it on their monuments (see Wilkinson, Manners and Customs 

 of the Ancient Egyptians, ed. Birch, 1878, ii., 78-92; La yard, 

 Nineveh and its Remains, 1849, ii., 430); the former kept 

 hares in special preserves. 



A hound resembling a modern greyhound appears in the 

 Egyptian sculptures, but there is nothing to show exactly how 

 it was used. It is, however, remarkable that hunting with dogs 

 is nowhere mentioned in the Bible, and the word "greyhound," 

 which appears in the authorised version of the Book of Proverbs 

 (xxx., 31) should probably be rendered " horse," i.e. " war-horse," 

 as is suggested in a marginal reading of the Revised Version. 



