268 
The Lcporide. 
intermediate, a reddish grey ; the ears are as long as those of the 
hare, with this peculiarity, that in many instances one ear is erect, 
the other pendent ; their heads are larger than those of the rabbit, 
the e3'e more prominent and placed nearer to the nostrils ; the 
hind-legs are said to resemble the hare (Prof. Owen's report, as we 
have seen, differed in this respect), the fore-legs are longer ; the 
length of tail is intermediate. The rabbit-blood, through the 
male or female alike, appears to give and maintain a prolific 
character, that of the hare to impair it. 
From such considerations M. Broca has been led to adopt a 
distinction in the physical constitution, suggested by Bichat, 
between the relative (or animal) life and the organic (or vege- 
tative) life, and to consider that in hybrids the former is chiefly 
influenced by the sire, the latter by the dam. The expression 
t! relative life " seems intended to signify all that tends to bring 
the animal into relation with external objects — the organs or 
instruments of perception, will, locomotion, sensation ; whilst 
on the organic life depend digestion, secretion, nutrition : that is 
to say, the formation of tissues through the blood in like manner 
as wood is formed by sap, whence organic is nearly synonymous 
frith vegetative life. 
One illustration of the use to which such curiosities of phy- 
siology may be put by farmers may serve as a fitting conclusion 
to this statement. We have lately had before our eyes an in- 
teresting lecture on the breeding and management of sheep from 
Mr. Woods, agent to Lord Walsingham. The practical aim of 
this address is especially manifested by the special notice it 
directs to cross-breeding, as generally practised in Norfolk, 
rather than of the management of his Lordship's first-rate South- 
down flock. 
Mr. Woods raises the question whether farmers should not 
rather put a down-ram to long-woolled ewes than continue to 
follow the converse practice. Now, if the flesh distinctly takes 
after the dam, and " the consistence of the pelt " be that of the 
sire, it would seem that we should lose rather than gain by the 
change suggested. So far as quality of flesh is concerned, the 
down-ewe is decidedly preferable, for the butcher values dark 
meat, particularly in young animals ; so far as perception, and 
will, and sensation influence the temperament, a placid long- 
woolled sire will answer best. With respect to the wool, there 
may be a doubt whether we should refer its character to the sire 
or to the dam ; yet this theory appears to support the preference 
given to the sire bearing a heavy fleece. At all events, breeders 
may get some food for meditation from the records of Cagliari's 
and Roux's respective forms of hybrids. 
