324 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



perhaps work out without much difficulty, sup- 

 posing he also were a fairly competent naturalist. 



What is the size of a rabbit community which 

 is most profitable to the individual ? Nature, 

 who is, as I have several times remarked, a great 

 actuary and statistician, does these calculations 

 continually, and her answer is set down wherever 

 a rabbit community can be found which exists 

 under anything like natural conditions. Of 

 course each community would be subject to 

 special circumstances according to the nature 

 of the surrounding country, so that an abstract 

 calculation would, after all, have but an academic 

 value. 



If the question were asked. How did white tails 

 first become fashionable among rabbits and forest 

 deer ? I do not suppose that any naturalist of 

 this generation would be ready with an answer. 

 The actual origin of phenomena like the above 

 is especially puzzling to the evolutionist, and 

 many such problems must remain unsolved until 

 our knowledge of natural history is considerably 

 greater than it is at present. 



One point, however, is fairly evident, and that 

 is, that we must regard the herd or the community 

 rather than the individual as the chief unit with 



