1 02 Asiatic Society . [No .121. 



devoted to zoological studies, that none have hitherto been observed,* nor am I aware 

 that any have been met with in the great islands of the Oriental Archipelago; 

 but in China there are doubtless several, and one from that country has been figured 

 by Messrs. Hardwicke and Gray as L. Sinensis, besides which the L. variabilis 

 (or much more probably an allied species, gregarious in its migrations like various 

 other rodents,) is known to inhabit Chinese Tartary. In Little Tibet, my friend 

 Mr. Vigne observed a rather large species, a skull of which he took to England, and 

 which, it may be, is the L. O'iostolus vel JEmodius of Mr. Hodgson {Jour. As. Soc. 

 ix. 1186),f and this or another species is " common everywhere in Afghanistan" 

 (Elphinstone's Cabul, 141). Lieut. Irwin also notices that " Hares are generally 

 diffused" in that country, and that "white Hares are chiefly found beyond the Jaxartes. 

 In Cabul only is the Hare kept in a domesticated state, and they may be purchased 

 in the market for half a rupee each. The Rabbit is not found in these countries, 

 India, or Persia" (Jour. As. Soc. viii. 1007), i. e. not in a wild state, for there is no 

 lack of domestic Rabbits in Calcutta. J In the Indian Peninsula, I know only of 

 L. ruficaudatus (?), which Mr. Hodgson assigns to " the Gangetic plains and Sub- 

 Himalayas," and L. nigricollis, which the same gentleman formerly included in his 

 Catalogue of Nepalese Mammalia (P. Z. S. 1834, 85), as an inhabitant of the 

 Tarai, though the omission of this species in his subsequent lists would seem to 

 intimate that at that time he had mistaken the species. Col. Sykes states L. nigri- 

 collis to be " very common in the strong and bushy hills of Dukhun;" and I have 

 some reason to suspect the existence of another upon the Neilghierries. A curious 



from all parts of the world are brought together. On the same occasion I observed a 

 pile of several dozen skins of the Kobus ellypsiprymnus (A. Smith) of South Africa. 

 Of Lepus, were some large packages of skins of the Polar Hare, and the present 

 species was known to the dealers by the name of Polish or Russian Rabbit, 

 Length about afoot and a half; the ears two inches and a half, and tail with hair nearly 

 two inches, moderately bushy, and pale brown above, having no black on it. Fur in 

 winter about an inch and a half long, the basal third dusky or slate colour, then 

 rather pale fulvous for | inch, the remainder white; of one quality, delicate 

 and lying straight, exceedingly soft, and winter surface appearing pure white; 

 the ears black at base of hairs, but overlaid with white, the edges alone appearing 

 black. A specimen, apparently killed in autumn, with white hairs growing among 

 the rest, had the summer coat fulvous with black tips, the fulvous changing to 

 white before being shed, and the front part of the outside of the ears brown ; skin 

 remarkably thin and delicate. It is possible that this may be the L. hybridus 

 of Pallas, which I do not know ; but, if undescribed, it might bear the appellation of 

 L. Sclavonicus. 



A species of Hare from Sardinia has lately been described by M. Wagner, by the 

 name L. Mediterraneus. The islands of Sardinia and Corsica are highly remarkable 

 in their Zoology, containing besides a peculiar Weasel ( Mustela boccamelaj, a 

 distinct Stag from that of Italy and the continent of Europe (Cervus Mediterraneus J, 

 the wild Moufflon Sheep, &c; nor is the botany of the same islands less re- 

 markable. E. B. 



* Since writing this, I have been informed that a species of Hare, nearly resem- 

 bling if not identical with that of Bengal, is common on the Siamese hills, on the eas- 

 tern border of the Company's territory ; and reverting to Crawfurd's "Kmbassy to Ava" 

 (p. 456), I find it there stated that "the Hare is not known in Pegu, but makes its 

 appearance on the high lands before the disemboguement of the Irawadi, It is a small 

 animal, similar, in all respects, to the Indian Hare," — E. B. 



t Described, I now find, in Proc. Zool. Soc. for Jan. 26, 1841, as L. Tibetanus, 

 Waterhouse, and presumed to be identical with L. o'istolus, Hodgson; vide An. and 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., Nov. 1841,/?. 234. 



X Fide the last No. of this Journal, x 979, for another notice of the Hares of 

 Afghanistan. 



