858 The Gray Rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus). [November, 



chamber, and generally a thin breathing spot, or hole, above, 

 caused by the thawing of the warm breath, which unhappily 

 often betrays its hiding place to dog and man. If undisturbed, 

 the animal is so impatient of cold as to stay in its form several 

 days without food. So cleanly is the poor thing, that it will suf- 

 fer acutely rather than pollute its home ; hence the practice of a 

 painful continence until forced by sheer distress to seek relief in 

 a discharge of the suppressed urine. By this time the retained 

 renal secretions have become thickened, and when discharged are 

 of a reddish-brown hue. 



The hare of Europe, it is commonly said, never gets fat, unlike 

 other wild animals, even their rabbits, and this no matter how 

 good may be its feeding grounds. Our wood hare does some- 

 times get quite fat, although it never makes " kidney fat." But 

 confined to its form, as just described, the condition of the ani- 

 mal becomes extremely bad. From long fasting the flesh gets to 

 be very lean, while the retention of the urine infects the entire 

 tissues with urea, making its odor so rank as to receive the epi- 

 thet " skunky." 



The domestic rabbit can be made enormously fat. An epicure 

 not many miles away, often luxuriated on a buck of large size, 

 splendid condition and exquisite flavor. The truth told, it was an 

 eunuch Cuniculus, fat, fair and portly, which graced our gour- 

 mand's board. But before leaving the adipose part of this sub- 

 ject, a bit of ignorance must be mentioned, which ought to be 

 unique. Last autumn my neighbor's man captured a fine, gray 

 rabbit. He had skinned the game, and was profuse in praise of 

 its condition ; but having opened it, the poor man stood aghast 

 in horror, and was suddenly taken sick, for he beheld in the 

 coney an immense tape-worm ! And this horror fell upon the 

 whole family, for they all " saw it with their own eyes." So, not 

 to waste the thing, it was thrown into the stye out of sight. 

 Here was a pearl cast before swine, for the simple fact was, that 

 attached by the edge of a thin membrane to the viscera, along 

 nearly its entire length, was a ribbon of adipose tissue, which 

 was scolloped by little beads of fat. These scollopings were mis- 

 taken for " tape-worm joints." In truth, this white, wavy fillet of 

 round, waxen beads was really a very pretty object. Besides, 

 who would look for a Taenia on the outride of the alimentary 

 canal ? However, these innocents believed they were right, and 



