8 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
March, 1923 
altitiuLe of more than 14,000 feet on some of the higher 
mountains of Mexico (Eeference 1, p. 16). 
The term “rabbit^’ w'as originally applied to the 
young aniuml only, the full-grown one being called a 
“coney/' Varro* tells us (2, p. 315) tha-t they were 
called by the latter name because of their habit of making 
burrows (cuniculi) “'underground in 'the fields ito bide 
themselves in." Hence we get the specific name of Hie 
common Eurojiean rabbit, Leptia cuniculuSy now termed 
Orycto^asus citniciiliis. Nowadays, the word coney has 
dropped out of general use, although it is still retained in 
some quarters. 
With the ancients’ the term “hare” appears to have 
included tlie rabbit. This is seen from the statement of 
Plinyf tliat “There is also a species of hare, in Sriain, 
which is called tre rabbit" (3 Vol. II. p. 348). Strabof 
also alludes to rabbits as “hares” (4, Vol. 1. Book HI, 
p. 217), and Varro writes in a similar strain. Until ([uite 
recently, indeed, it was coiis/idcred impossible to separate 
the rabbit c/itl hare geiu'rically, and both were included 
in the genus Leptis, 
All the different kinds of rabbit are believed to 
have descended from the common European species. 
Althongh doubt lias been thrown by reason of the dis- 
covery of the remains of rabbits in Quaternary deposits 
North of tlie Alps (5, p. 363), it is the opinion of 
Naturalists that the original home of the European rabbit 
wa:-’ the sea-board of tbe western end of fhe Mediterra- 
nean Sea (6, p. 502). According to Strabo they Avere in- 
troduced into Spain frcui Africa (4, Book ITT., p. 252). 
From these regions they spread, both by natural m gra- 
tion and human agency, northerly and easterly over 
temperate Eiu'cpe and across Asia, ultimately reaching 
America, similarly to other mammals, by means of a land 
connection between Asia and America tliat existed in 
ages past. The extension of their range has been going 
on in recent times. For i'nslance, they were little known 
in Scotland in the early i>art of the nineteenth 'century, 
but are uoav “found in all s'uitable localities up to the 
extreme north” (7. p. 495). Their introduction into Ire- 
land is also recent. Changes in the distribution of rabbits 
* M. 'I'fieniius Varro - B.C. 116-27. 
+ C. Fliiiius Secundus — A.D. 2^-79, 
J Stra!)o (of Amasifi, in Pontus) — B.C. 63-A.r). 25. 
