JACK RABBITS AS GAME. 71 



producing 75 pounds of cut fur. If all the machines were kept run- 

 ning for two hundred and iifty days per annum they would require 

 48,000,000 rabbit and hare skins. The output of fur would be about 

 3,000,000 pounds, which, valued at 85 cents per pound, would give a 

 total of $2,550,000; deducting $600,000 for cost of cutting, estimated 

 at 20 cents per pound of fur, the value would be $1,950,000.^ 



Jack rabbit skins apparently have not been utilized to any great 

 extent, but if they can not compete with the best native or foreign 

 skins in quality, they certainly can be used for many purposes for 

 which skins of inferior grades are employed. In addition to being 

 utilized for fur and felt, rabbit skins are used for making gelatine, 

 jujube, sizing, and glue, and in Spain it is said that the hair is some- 

 times used in place of down. For these purposes skins of jack rabbits 

 ought to be as good as any. If skins can be shipped from Australia to 

 the United States by way of London and then sold at a profit for 3 

 cents apiece, there ought to be a large market for native skins. Jack 

 rabbit skins can be collected with such facility in the West that they 

 could probably be sold at a lower price than those of the cottontail or 

 any imported skins of the same grade and still allow a margin of profi.t. 



JACK RABBITS AS GAME. 



Between the months of October and March, jack rabbits are sold in 

 considerable quantities in the larger cities of the United States from 

 San Francisco to Boston, and from St. Paul to New Orleans. Both the 

 Prairie Hare and the Blacktailed Jack Eabbit are shipped to Eastern 

 markets, but in California the Texan Hare and the California Jack 

 Eabbit are the only ones commonly sold. The business of handling 

 this game is larger than is generally supposed, and while by no means 

 equal to the trade in cottontails, is capable of being developed into 

 an important industry to the mutual benefit of the consumer and of the 

 farmer who suffers from the depredations of the rabbits. 



PARASITES. 



Many j)ersons have a prejudice against eating jack rabbits because 



the animals are infested at certain seasons with parasites, or because 



the flesh is supposed to be ' strong.' This prejudice, however, is 



entirely unfounded. The parasites of the rabbit are not injurious to 



man ; furthermore, the ticks and warbles occur at a season when the 



rabbits should not be killed for game, while the tapeworm can only 



develop in certain of the lower animals, e. g., in the dog or the 



coyote. The most important parasites of the jack rabbit are ticks 



^ {Ixodes) and larvae of a fly (Cuterebra) and of a tapeworm [Tcenia), 



^^^ Ticks are especially troublesome during the summer and may sometimes 



^^Hbe found clustered about the ears in great numbers. A large fly of 



^Himp 



'These figures have beeu kindly furnished by Messrs. J. P. McGovern & Bro. 

 importers and fur brokers, of New York. 



