T 11 1 
it feems net unfair to confider any animal of the 
Hare genus, (whofe legs thus meafured are lets 
than the half of the diftance from the rump to the 
mouth) as a Rabbit, and on the contrary when they 
are either one half, or more, as a Hare. 
If the fore and hind legs of a Rabbit and Hare 
are alfo refpedtively compared, it will be found that 
the fore legs of the former are proportionally more 
fhort, than thofe of a Hare. 
By both thefe criteria the quadruped from Hud- 
fon’s Bay muff rather be considered as a Hare, than 
a Rabbit (as it is called in that part of the world), 
according to the admeafurements fubjoined, which 
include the refpediive proportions 
alfo of the Alpine 
Hare [h]. 
Fore Leg. 
HindLeg. 
Back and Head. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Rabbit 
42 
H 
i6| 
Hare 
ll 
1 1 
2 2 
Hudfon’sBay^ , 3 
Quadruped J 8 
i of 
18 
6# 
IOT 
22 
Alpine Hare < 
From the 
From the 
uppermoft 
uppermoft 
joint to the 
w toe. 
joint to the 
toe. 
From tfye proportion of thefe parts, in the Hud- 
fon’s Bay quadruped, according to this table, I flatter 
myfelf, that it may with greater propriety be claffed 
as belonging to the Hare fpecies, than by any other 
marks of a fpecific difference which have been hi- 
therto relied upon. 
[h~] This fpecies of Hare is found in the Highlands of Scot- 
land, whence I received a fpecimen, which I had the honour 
of prefenting to the Mufeum of the Royal Society. 
C 2 
Ido 
