262 



LEPORID^— LEPUS 



me of some instances which occurred near Leek, North Staffordshire ; but 

 the majority escape recognition, being mistaken for Mountain Hares. 



The skull and teeth are typical of the group Eulagos, as described 

 above on p. 249. 



Fig. 47. — Side View of Skull of Lepus europmus (life size) 



Individual variation of colour is frequent, or rather it is frequently 

 reported, as the animal is so much under the public view that practi- 

 cally every conspicuous variety is noticed by sportsmen or keepers. 



Black varieties (which, like black rabbits, seem to lack the white 

 underside, see p. 198), are rare, but at least fifteen instances have been 

 recorded, including two leverets. Some of them may have been 

 individuals undergoing autumnal moult, as described above 



Two rich ochraceous specimens, both quite immature, in the Tomes 

 collection at the British Museum of Natural History, are labelled 

 " Weston Sands." To this class probably belong two tawny Scottish 

 females in the Perth Museum, for a note of which I am indebted to 

 Rodger. 



Cream-coloured and white specimens, with the eyes pink or brown, 

 are more numerous than the black, and are occasionally found as 

 leverets ; but records of white or whitish varieties need careful verifica- 

 tion, as they may have reference to the regular grey variety described 

 below, to specimens undergoing winter whitening, or to introduced Blue 

 Hares. Sometimes varieties of the above type are recorded to have 

 occurred more than once, or periodically, in the same district ; and two, 

 a male and female, were shot on the same day near Perth, and are 

 now in the museum of that town (Rodger, MS.). White or pied 

 specimens with blue eyes have been three times reported (Nicholls, 

 Field, 2 1 St April 1888, 547; Whitaker, Zoologist, 1889, 143; Hunt, 

 Field, Sth October 1895, 590), and "white hares" are said to have 

 been occasionally shot at Cubberley near Cheltenham (Witchell and 



