Chap. IV. 



DIFFERENCES IN THEIE SKELETONS. 



117 



we shall presently more fully see, has not increased relatively with the 

 size of body. As the brain has not increased, the bony case enclosing 

 it has not increased, and this has evidently affected through correlation 

 the breadth of the entire skull from end to end. 



Fig. 6.— Skull of Wild Rabbit, of natural size. 



Fig. 1.— Skull of large Lop-eared Rabbit, 

 of natural size. 



In all the skulls of the large lop-eared rabbits, the supra-orbital plates 

 or processes of the frontal bones are much broader than in the wild rabbit, 

 and they generally project more upwards. In the zygomatic arch the 

 posterior or projecting point of the malar-bone is broader and blunter; 

 and in the specimen, fig. 8, it is so in a remarkable degree This point 

 approaches nearer to the auditory meatus than in the wild rabbit, as may 

 be best seen m fig. 8; but this circumstance mainly depends on the changed 

 direction of the meatus. The inter-parietal bone (see fig. 9) differs much in 

 shape m the several skulls ; generally it is more oval, or has a greater width 

 m the line of the longitudinal axis of the skull, than in the wild rabbit. The 



