GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 



175 



to the woods. Its mode of life resembles that 

 of the coramofi hare. The males, during the 

 pairing season, are remarkably ardent, like 

 those of the common hare, and like them, 

 too, are very savage towards their young. 



The Rabbit (L. cuniculus), fig. 239, has a 

 thickset body, and is in every way smaller 



than the hare; its hind-legs are relatively 

 considerably shorter than those of the latter 

 animal. The ears, when laid against the 

 side of the head, do not reach to the end of 

 the mouth. The creature is fond of stony 

 and sandy places where it can make burrows, 

 in which it breeds with considerable rapidity. 



Fig. 237. — The Common Hare [Lepus timidus) 



The rabbit is a destroyer without a rival, 

 doing much damage in forest plantations and 

 fields. Of tame rabbits there is an enormous 

 number of varieties, all due to artificial selec- 

 tion. The flesh of the rabbit is white; that 

 of the hare, on the contrary, rather dark. 

 Fertile hybrids between these two species 

 have been reared. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND 

 DESCENT OF THE RODENTS. 



This order, the richest of all the mam- 

 malian orders in genera and species, and at 



the same time one of the oldest, might be 

 expected to show rather complicated and 

 remarkable phenomena with respect to its 

 geographical distribution, and the phenomena 

 which it does present under this head may 

 be looked at from various points of view. 



We are first of all struck by the fact that 

 two large islands, Australia and Madagascar, 

 are almost entirely destitute of these animals. 

 In these two regions we find only a few re- 

 presentatives of the great family of the mice, 

 and while the three genera represented on 

 Madagascar are absolutely confined to this 

 island, two out of the six Australian genera 

 are found also on the neighbouring continent 



