130 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



AdditLonal Facts About the Rabbit. 



The rabbit is taken to represent the class Mam- 

 malia. All animals of this class nourish their young 

 on milk, which is secreted by the mammary glands. 



The rabbit belongs to an order of mammals which 

 are called rodents. The name Rodentia is given to 

 this order because the animals are great gnawers. 

 Rats, mice, squirrels, beavers, etc., belong to this 

 order. There are four incisors in the upper jaw of 

 the rabbit, but one pair, which is very small, is placed 

 behind the other pair. The incisor teeth grow 

 throughout life, so that the part of a tooth that is 

 worn away by excessive gnawing is soon replaced by 

 growth at the base. 



Rabbits have no canine teeth. In the dog, cat, 

 and other carnivorous animals, the canine teeth are 

 very large and are used for seizing prey. Such 

 animals invariably eat meat as a part or all of their 

 food. 



If we knew nothing of the food of the rabbit, we 

 should judge from the absence of the canine teeth 

 that it did not eat meat, and did not prey upon other 

 animals. 



Rabbits often do injury to fruit trees, by gnawing 

 the bark. When rabbits become very numerous, 

 they eat so much of the vegetation that other animals 

 find it hard to get enough to eat. In this way, rab- 

 bits have become a very great pest in Australia. 



About 1860, a gentleman from England, who had 

 settled in Australia, thought what a nice thing it 

 would be to have some rabbits near his home, as he 

 formerly had in England. He sent to England for 

 a dozen pairs and turned them loose. They multiplied 

 so rapidly that the Australian government and Aus- 

 tralian farmers have spent millions of dollars in trying 

 to exterminate them. It is estimated that .the loss to 



