[4] 



II. Invefligation of the fpecific CharaBers. 

 which diflinguifh the Rabbit from the 

 Hare : In a Letter to Samuel Wegg 3 

 Efq'y T. and Vke-Prefident of the R. $. 

 from the Honourable Daines Harrington, 



'F. P. R. S. 



November 24, 1771 

 Dear Sir, 



Read Jan. i6."¥" CALLED lately at your houfe, to 

 l ^ 2, J^ meafure fome parts of the quadruped 

 which you have received by the laft ihip from Hud? 

 fon's Bay, and am now convinced that it mould be 

 rather confidered as a Hare than as a Rabbit, which 

 latter name it hath obtained in that part of the 

 world. 



You will find indeed, from what I am going to 

 Hate, that it is not very eafy to fettle a fpecific, and 

 at the fame time fcientific difference, between thefe 

 two animals, even when the greatefr, authorities in 

 Natural Hiftory are confulted. 



Ray [a] makes the diitincYion between the Hare 

 and the Rabbit to confift in the fmaller fize of the 

 latter, its property of burrowing, and the greater 

 whitenefs of the flefh when drefled ; he chiefly relies, 

 however, on the one being larger than the other ; 



jV] Syn ; Quacir, Art, Lepus. 



33 



