92 ZOOLOGY OF THE TOY AGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



Section — LEPORINA. 



Family— LEPORIDJE 



Lepus Magellanicus. 



Lepus Magellanicus, Lesson et Garnot, Zoologie du Voyage autour du Monde de la Corvette, La Coquille; 



" A black variety of the domesticated species, which was turned out on these 

 islands by the earlier colonists, has been considered, but with some hesitation, by 

 M. Lesson, as a distinct species. He has called it Lepus Magellanicus, and 

 has given the following specific character, — ' Pilis omnino atro-violaceis, albis 

 passim sparsis: auriculis fuscis, capite brevioribus ; macula alba naso, interstitio 

 narium, menti, gidce,fr antique?* In the specimens preserved on board the Beagle, 

 the form and position of the white marks neither agree with M. Lesson's descrip- 

 tion, nor with each other. In one there is a broad white patch on one side of the 

 head, and another on one of the hinder thighs. The Spaniards employed in 

 hunting wild cattle, (who are all excellent practical observers) assured me, that the 

 black rabbits were only varieties of the common gray kind, and they gave the 

 following reasons for thinking so ; — namely, that the two sorts did not live apart ; 

 that the black one had not a different range from the other ; that the two bred 

 freely together, and that they produced pie-bald offspring. As the rabbits extend 

 their range very slowly, (not having yet crossed the central range,) the Spaniards 

 have sometimes carried a few aud turned them out in different parts of the island, 

 and thus they have ascertained that the black and gray kinds breed together 

 freely. Bougainville, moreover, who visited the part of the island, where the 

 black variety is now most common, distinctly states, in his voyage round the 

 world, that no animal, excepting the great wolf-like fox inhabited these islands. 

 M. Lesson supposes that the Lepus Magellanicus is found near the Strait of Ma- 

 gellan ; but I inquired of the Indians, who live there, and they knew of no other 

 'conejos' or rabbits, except the Kerodon Kingii, which no doubt is the animal 

 alluded to by the early voyagers." — D. 



1. Dasypus hybridus. 



Dasypus hybridus, Auct. 



a 



This species seems to prefer rocky and slightly undulating ground, and 



» 



* Voyage de La Coquille. Partie Zoologique, vol. i. p. 168. 



