4 
ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 409 
garded as a distinct species.”’* In Queensland the Rabbit has 
apparently acquired poisonous qualities. Lumbholtz relates :— 
“The next night we made our camp on an island, and the squatter 
at once went out to shoot Rabbits with his rifle. The Rabbits 
had been placed on this island a few years previously, and 
although there was no fresh water, excepting when it rained, still 
they throve very well, and had greatly increased in numbers. 
Strange to say, these Rabbits are said to be poisonous, doubtless 
on account of the food on which they are obliged to subsist. The 
squatter informed me that a year ago he had visited the island 
and shot some of these animals, which were roasted and eaten, but 
had made both him and his companions ill.” + They vary also 
remarkably in colour. Prof. Strong states:—‘‘ I have seen more 
parti-coloured Rabbits in Australia than I have ever seen in 
Europe. Near Queenscliffe numerous instances occur, not merely 
of white and black Rabbits, which are common, but of Rabbits 
with beautifully striped skins.” { In Paraguay the domestic Cat 
has become one-fourth smaller, its body is slender, its hair short, 
shiny, thin, and pressed closely to the skin, especially on the tail, 
which is almost naked (Rengger).§ 
(To be continued.) 
* ¢ Royal Nat. Hist.,’ vol. iii. p. 200. In the face of this and other testi- 
mony it is somewhat startling to find Weismann stating no alteration has 
taken place: ‘The Rabbit which was brought by sailors to the Atlantic 
island of Porto Santo has bred abundantly, and remains unchanged in this 
locality ” (‘Essays upon Heredity,’ &c., Engl. transl. 2nd edit.vol. i. p. 271). 
+ ‘Among Cannibals,’ p. 322. 
t * Zoologist,’ 38rd series, vol. xvili. p. 406. 
§ Eimer, ‘ Organic Evolution,’ Engl. transl. p. 102. 
Zool. 4th ser. vol. II., September, 1898. 25 
