128 DOMESTIC BABBITS. Chap. IV. 



I have previously remarked that, if we had possessed many domestic 

 rabbits of the same average size with the wild rabbit, it would have 

 been easy to compare the capacity of their skulls. Now the Himalayan, 

 Moscow, and Angora rabbits (Nos. 11, 12, 13 of Table) are only a little 

 larger in body, and have skulls only a little longer, than the wild animal, 

 and we see that the actual capacity of their skulls is less than in the wild 

 animal, and considerably less by calculation (column 7), according to the 

 difference in the length of their skulls. The narrowness of the brain-case 

 in these three rabbits could be plainly seen and proved by external measure- 

 ment. The Chinchilla rabbit (No. 14) is a considerably larger animal than 

 the wild rabbit, yet the capacity of its skull only slightly exceeds that 

 of the wild rabbit. The Angora rabbit, No. 13, offers the most remarkable 

 case ; this animal in its pure white colour and length of silky fur bears 

 the stamp of long domesticity. It has a considerably longer head and 

 body than the wild rabbit, but the actual capacity of its skull is less than 

 that of even the little wild Porto Santo rabbits. By the standard of the 

 length of skull the capacity (see column 7) is only half of what it ought 

 to have been ! I kept this individual animal alive, and it was not unhealthy 

 nor idiotic. This case of the Angora rabbit so much surprised me, that 

 I repeated all the measurements and found them correct. I have also 

 compared the capacity of the skull of the Angora with that of the wild 

 rabbit by other standards, namely, by the length and weight of the body, 

 and by the weight of the limb-bones ; but by all these standards the brain 

 appears to be much too small, though in a less degree when the standard of 

 the limb-bones was used ; and this latter circumstance may probably be 

 accounted for by the limbs of this anciently domesticated breed having 

 become much reduced in weight, from its long-continued inactive life. 

 Hence I infer that in the Angora breed, which is said to differ from other 

 breeds in being quieter and more social, the capacity of the skull has really 

 undergone a remarkable amount of reduction. 



From the several facts above given, — namely, firstly, that the 

 actual capacity of the skull in the Himalayan, Moscow, and 

 xlngora breeds, is less than in the wild rabbit, though they are 

 in all their dimensions rather larger animals ; secondly, that the 

 capacity of the skull of the large lop-eared rabbits has not been 

 increased in nearly the same ratio as the capacity of the skull of 

 the smaller wild rabbits has been decreased ; and thirdly, that 

 the capacity of the skull in these same large lop-eared rabbits is 

 very inferior to that of the hare, an animal of nearly the same 



brain of a hare which weighed 7 lbs., is in my table 972 grains ; and accord- 



and 125 grains as the weight of the ing to Dr. Crisp's ratio of 125 to 210, the 



brain of a rabbit which weighed 3 lbs. skull of the hare ought to have contained 



5 oz., that is, the same weight as the 1632 grains of shot, instead of only (in 



rabbit No. 1 in my list. Now the con- the largest hare in my table) 1455 



tents of the skull of rabbit No. 1 in shot grains. 



