Marsh Rabbit Diet 
149 
Table 1. Continued. 
Abundance 
Spring 
Summer 
Winter 
Total 
Plant species 
(n = 5) 
(n = 9) 
(n = 7) 
(n = 21) 
Dune 
Purple sandgrass (Triplasis purpurea ) 
<1 (1) 
<1 (4) 
1(7) 
1(7) 
Sea oats ( Uniola paniculata) 
2(14) 
1(14) 
Lovegrass ( Eragrostis pilosa) 
2(13) 
1(13) 
Sandspur {Cenchrus tribuloides) 
5(15) 
<1(1) 
2(15) 
Panic grass ( Panicum amarum) 
Berm 
<1 (4) 
1(9) 
<1 (9) 
Dune elder ( Iva imbricata) 
<1(1) 
<1(1) 
Unidentified forbs 
3(10) 
<1 (1) 
4(7) 
2(10) 
Unidentified grasses 
<1(1) 
<1 (3) 
<1 (2) 
<1 (3) 
a Phragmites australis (= P. communis ) 
b includes Galium tinctorium and G. hispidulum 
c includes Smilax bona-nox and S. laurifolia 
recovered from rabbit stomachs. The methods of fixing and staining 
plant epidermal tissues and microtechniques for diet analysis were 
modifications of those used by Dusi (1949). 
Rabbit collections were made during three periods coinciding 
with new plant growth in the spring (March 1987), abundant green 
forage of late summer (August/September 1986), and sparse old growth 
in winter (December 1986). Relative ages of rabbits were deter- 
mined by the degree of fusion between the exoccipital-supraoccipital 
suture (Hoffmeister and Zimmerman 1967). Stomachs were fixed in 
10% formalin and stored in 45% isopropanol. 
Stomach contents were removed and gently agitated in 45% 
isopropanol to mix the fragments. A random sample was drawn 
from the slurry and was stained in a 10-mg/L Rhodamine B solu- 
tion for 48-72 hours. Twenty subsamples were drawn from each 
sample and were mounted on clean slides. Five fields of view were 
selected, using a chart of random coordinates, for each of the 20 
slides. Fragments were identified by diagnostic epidermal character- 
istics and comparison with reference slides. Unidentifiable fragments 
were recorded as either unknown grass or forb. For each plant 
species, dietary data are expressed as abundance, or proportion of 
the diet attributable to that plant. 
Principal component analysis indicated that the abundance of 
plants found in marsh rabbit stomachs varied seasonally but without 
regard to age and sex; therefore, rabbits of all ages and both sexes 
