96 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Lepus timidus, and the Irish Hare, L. variabilis, recently obtained in Carnar- 

 vonshire, where the latter species had been introduced in 1878. He compared 

 the specimen in question with examples of both the above-named species, and 

 contrasted their distinguishing peculiarities, pointing out the intermediate 

 characters exhibited by the supposed hybrid. His remarks were criticised by 

 the Presideut(Dr. A. Gunther), who thought that too much stress should not 

 be laid upon external appearance and colour; that the question of hybridity 

 should rather be determined by comparing the relative measurements of the 

 leg-bones; and that the Irish Hare should be compared in detail with the 

 Hare of Southern Europe, L. meridionalis or mediterraneus. Prof. Howes 

 drew attention to Nathusius's observations upon the Peyer's patches of the 

 Leporines, and pointed to the necessity for examination of the viscera. 

 Mr. Barrett Hamilton, who was present as a visitor, was inclined to regard 

 the supposed hybrid as an example of the ordinary Brown Hare turning white 

 in winter, hitherto unnoticed in this country. Mr. Thomas Christy enquired 

 what position the so-called Belgian Hare or Leporine occupied in relation to 

 the question of hybridity ; and was answered that the popular notion of that 

 animal being a hybrid between Hare and Rabbit was fallacious, since it was 

 nothing more than an overgrown tame Rabbit coloured like a Hare. 



The 'Daily News' of Jan. 27th gives a forecast of the Commissioners' 

 Report on the Behring Sea Seal Fisheries, from which we extract the 

 following particulars: — Mr. Gerald Barrett Hamilton, one of the two British 

 Commissioners, returned recently to Loudon, having been preceded by Prof. 

 D'Arcy Thompson. After spending six weeks on the Commander Islands 

 and visiting Robben Island, Mr. Hamilton joined Prof. Thompson on the 

 Pribyloff, and remained until the end of October. The Canadian and United 

 States Commissioners, Messrs. McCoun and Clarke, were also on the 

 PribylorTs at the time. Owing to the powers given to the American Com- 

 missioners by their Government, they were able to do more than had been 

 previously accomplished in the study of the question. Among other things a 

 census — the first ever made — of every Seal on the islands was taken. This 

 showed that there were 143,000 breeding females on the Pribyloffs, and 

 proved that the American estimates of the total number of Seals on the 

 islands were much below the mark. Another important piece of work was 

 the counting of dead pups. The Americans claimed that, owing to the 

 killing at sea of breeding females, vast numbers of pups were left to starve 

 on the islands. They claimed that as many as 30,000 perished in this way. 

 It was therefore highly important to know actually how many dead pups there 

 were. Twenty thousand dead pups were counted, but it was proved that 

 10,000 of these had been killed by overcrowding before the commencement 

 of pelagic sealing. The remaining 10,000 had died later in the season. 



