1842.] Asiatic Society. 101 



tunity of putting this stratagem into execution, from the numerous holes or earths of 

 animals all over the country. Their manners are, in every respect, the same as those 

 of the English Hare : they are savage and ill-natured in their way, and fight with each 

 other to desperation ; and upon being wounded, they often bite and tear themselves ; in 

 consequence, a slight scratch often proves mortal. In some parts of the country they 

 are very numerous, which an English game-keeper would not believe, considering the 

 number of enemies they have, in the shape of Pariah Dogs, Jackals, Cats, Mongoose, 

 Weasels (Viverricula), Hawks, Snakes, and though last not least, the native 

 shikarees, who catch vast numbers of them, and sell them to the natives for two pice each , 

 and to gentlemen for four annas. They surround a bush with nets about 3 feet high ; 

 the bush is then beat with sticks, when the Hare bolts out into the net, which he attempts 

 to force himself through, and is caught unhurt. It is said that the fleetest Hares are 

 found in Hurriana, where there are extensive plains ; and I have been told that Dogs 

 which could kill Hares with ease at Allyghur, were at a loss at Hansi, at which place 

 I have often in vain tried them with the Rampoor and Persian Greyhound. I do not 

 recollect ever being able to turn one, much less to catch it. A very superior breed of 

 Dogs has now come into play, and no sportsman is seen with the large tearing down 

 animals of by-gone times, when a poor little diminutive Indian Fox or a glutted Jackal 

 were thought fit to contest in speed with long Dogs. The splendid Grey-hounds I 

 lately saw at Meerut assure us those times are gone." 



The genus Lepus, I may remai-k, has been very largely added to of late years, 

 wherever the specific distinctions have been duly attended to. In North America 

 alone, not less than 14 species have been clearly distinguished and described by my 

 friend, the Rev. Dr. Bachman ( Vide Jour. Acad. Nat. Soc. of Philadelphia, vii, 

 parts i. and ii). It is not long since the Irish Hare (L. Hibernicus) was first recognised 

 by the Earl of Derby to be totally distinct from the common species (L. timidus) of 

 Great Britain and Europe,* so that three are now known to be indigenous to the 

 British Islands, besides the Rabbit, which latter appears to have been introduced 

 originally from Barbary into Spain, whence it has been naturalized over all temperate 

 Europe. The labours of Ruppell and of Hemprich and Ehrenberg have made known 

 a considerable number of species from Syria and the north-east of Africa ; and 

 it cannot be doubted that many remain to be discovered throughout Asia. In the 

 Burmese territories, however, I have been informed by a gentleman long resident, and 



* The Irish Hare grows as large, or nearly so, as L. timidus, but is much more 

 nearly allied to L. variabilis; from which it is readily distinguished by the considera- 

 bly more rufous hue of its coat, which is also less dense, and has the inner felt rufous 

 instead of white. The length of a small male, weighing 4lbs. 10 oz., which I 

 procured, was 19 inches, the tail with hair three inches more ; ears three inches and 

 a half, and length of fore-limb from elbow joint seven inches, and of hinder from knee to 

 claw eleven inches: tarse with claws five inches and a half: as in L. variabilis, there is 

 no black on the tail, except a few scattered hairs. The fur has the same general 

 aspect as in that species, which is very different from that of L. timidus, being soft, of a 

 sandy-brown colour, with curly hoary tips intermixed ; beneath pale. Outside the 

 ears it is much longer than in L. timidus ; the latter are black-tipped, and pale 

 posteriorly. The flesh resembles that of the Common Hare much more than the 

 Alpine. This Irish species affects marshy situations, and when hunted leaps with 

 great agility over the stone walls that divide the country in some parts. A considerable 

 number of the L. timidus have lately been turned out in different parts of Ireland. 



I may take this opportunity to notice another European species, which I suspect is 

 new. 1 saw several barrels of the skins at one of the enormous collections of peltry ex- 

 hibited at the half-yearly sales of the Hudson's Bay Company, where specimens 



