MAMMALIA. FERA. 
Myoxus., 
common kind, but live and breed in holes apart. The fur is of a dirty ash- 
colour above, paler beneath, of a silky fineness, and 3 inches or more in 
length. 
32. L. variahilis, Alpine Hare. — Ears shorter than the 
head, and black towards the tips, the rest of the body dusky in 
summer, and white in winter. 
Barrington^ Phil. Trans. 1772. p. 11, — Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 102 — Walker's 
Essays, p. 493. S, White hare ; G, Maigheach-gheal — Inhabiting the 
Scottish mountains, and rarely descending lower than 1500 feet above 
the level of the sea. 
The Hon. Daines Barrington assigns as the length, in inches, of the fore- 
legs, from the uppermost joint to the toe, of the hare, 7| ; rabbit, 4| ; alpine 
hare, 6^ ; — of the hind-legs, in the hare, 11 ; rabbit, 6| ; alpine hare, lOf ; — 
the length of the body from the rump to the mouth, in the hare, 22; rabbit, 
16^ ; alpine hare, 22. This last species holds, therefore, an intermediate 
rank between the hare and the rabbit, in reference to its dimensions. The 
ears are white behind, and in summer they are brownish before, and in win- 
ter grey. The lips are always black? It lurks beneath stones and in holes 
in precipices. Said to be easily tamed. Breeds a few hundred feet below the 
summits of the higher mountains. F orster, in his Natural History of the V olga, 
Phil. Trans. 1763, p. 343., intimates that the fur of this species is greatly in- 
ferior to that of the common hare. Dr Leach considers the L. albus of Bris- 
son, to which he refers the Scottish hare, to be different from the L. variabi- 
lis of Pallas (Boss’s Voyage, App. No. iv. p. 151., and Annals of Phil. xiv. 
201.) The following notices on the change of colour in this species are inte- 
resting. “ The varying hare becomes white in winter. This remarkable 
change takes place in the following manner : About the middle of September 
the grey feet begin to be white, and before the month ends, all the four feet 
are white, and the ears and muzzle are of a brighter colour. The white co- 
lour gradually ascends the legs and thighs, and we observe under the grey 
hair whitish spots, which continue to increase till the end of October ; but 
still the back continues of a grey colour, while the eye-brows and ears are 
nearly white. From this period the change of colour advances very rapidly, 
and by the middle of November the whole fur, with the exception of the tips 
of the ears, which remain black, is of a shining white. The back becomes white 
within eight days. During the whole of this remarkable change in the fur, 
no hair falls from the animal ; hence it appears that the hair actually changes 
its colour, and that there is no renewal of it. The fur retains its white colour 
until the month of March, or even later, depending on the temperature of 
the atmosphere, and by the middle of May it has again a grey colour. But 
the spring change is different from the winter, as the hair is completely shed 
Edin. Phil. Journ. voL ii. p. 191. The laws regulating the colour of the 
summer and winter covering of quadrupeds and birds I have given in detail 
in my “ Philosophy of Zoology,” vol. ii. p. 15. 
Gen. XX. MYOXUS. Dormouse. — No subsidiary i^icisors. 
Roots of the grinders with fangs. — Grinders four on each 
side. Hairy. Destitute of a csecum. 
33. M. avellanarkis. Common Dormouse. — Fur above 
tawny red ; beneath white ; tail bushy. 
Mus avellanarum, Merr. Pin. p. 1G7 — Bay, Quad. p. 220 — Linn. Syst. 
i. p. 83. — Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 110 — Walker's Essays, p. 499. 
Sleeper ; IF, Pathew.— Inhabits woods and hedges. Rare in Scotland. 
