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ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
Section — LEPORINA. 
Family — LEPORIDJE. 
Lepus Magellanicus. 
Lepus Magellanicus, Lesson et Garnot , Zoologie du Voyage autour du Monde de la Corvette, La Coquille. 
“ A black variety of the domesticated species, which was turned out on these 
islands by the earlier colonists, has been considered, but with some hesitation, by 
M. Lesson, as a distinct species. He has called it Lepus Magellanicus , and 
has given the following specific character, — ‘ Pilis omnino atro-violaceis, albis 
passim sparsis : auriculis fuscis, capite brevioribus ; macula alba naso , interstitio 
narium, menti, gulce , frontique' * In the specimens preserved on board the Beagle, 
the form and position of the white marks neither agree with M. Lesson’s descrip- 
tion, nor with each other. In one there is a broad white patch on one side of the 
head, and another on one of the hinder thighs. The Spaniards employed in 
hunting wild cattle, (who are all excellent practical observers) assured me, that the 
black rabbits were only varieties of the common gray kind, and they gave the 
following reasons for thinking so ; — namely, that the two sorts did not live apart ; 
that the black one had not a different range from the other; that the two bred 
freely together, and that they produced pie-bald offspring. As the rabbits extend 
their range very slowly, (not having yet crossed the central range,) the Spaniards 
have sometimes carried a few aud turned them out in different parts of the island, 
and thus they have ascertained that the black and gray kinds breed together 
freely. Bougainville, moreover, who visited the part of the island, where the 
black variety is now most common, distinctly states, in his voyage round the 
world, that no animal, excepting the great wolf-like fox inhabited these islands. 
M. Lesson supposes that the Lepus Magellanicus is found near the Strait of Ma- 
gellan ; but I inquired of the Indians, who live there, and they knew of no other 
‘conejos’ or rabbits, except the Kerodon Kingii, which no doubt is the animal 
alluded to by the early voyagers.” — D. 
1. Dasypus hybridus. 
Dasypus hybridus, Auct. 
“ This species seems to prefer rocky and slightly undulating ground, and 
* Voyage de La Coquille. Partie Zoologique, vol. i. p. 168 . 
