C 5 ] 
as this is the moft material circumftance in which 
they are fuppofed by him to vary, whether exterior 
or interior. 
Though bulk is undoubtedly a very proper cir- 
cumfiance to be attended to in the defcription of 
an animal ; yet recourfe fhould never be had to it 
in effablifhing a fpecific difference, except it is the 
only criterion which can be fixed upon, and the dif- 
proportion in point of fize is very great. 
An Hare, however, does not exceed a Rabbit fo 
much in bulk as a Patagonian does a Laplander, or 
a mafliff does a lap-dog, which yet are not to be 
confidered as differing in fpecies. 
Befides this, age, climate, and food, as well as 
other circumflances, often occafion great diftindtion 
between animals of the fame fpecies, in point of 
bulk. 
The Hare (for example) which is found in moft 
parts of North America, is a third lefs than the 
European Hare, and confequently is fcarcely larger 
than our Rabbit [^]. 
The next criterion which Ray fixes upon to di- 
flinguifh the Rabbit from the Hare, is that the latter 
burrows in the ground ; this, however, only holds 
with regard to the warren Rabbit, for thofe which 
are called hedge Rabbits feldom burrow, and many 
of them fit in forms as Hares do. 
[£] Monf. de Buffon is mifinformed, when he afFerf>', on the 
contrary, that the American Hare is larger than that of Europe, 
(Hift. N. f. VI. p. 246) if I can depend upon the accounts 
I have rectived from thofe who have long refided in America, 
as well as fome fluffed fpecimens which I have examined. See 
alfo Mr. Pennant’s Syn. of Quadr. p. 249. 
The 
