The Hijiory of ANIMALS. 
B 2 B 
L E P U S. 
T H E upper fore-teeth of the Lepus are duplicated, the under ones are fimple $ 
there are no canine teeth: the ears are long, and the legs are formed for 
running. 
Lepus cauda abrupta , pupillis atris. SCf )t CDtlttllDIt 
The Lepus , with an abrupt tail , and black eyes* 
The hare greatly refembles the rabbit in form, but it is larger* and fomewhat 
longer, in proportion to it’s thicknefs: the head is large, oval, and not very acute; 
the mouth is fmall 5 the upper lip divided; the eyes large, black, and prominent; 
the ears remarkably long; the fore-legs are fhort, but the hinder ones are very long, 
furnifhed with mufcles of a furprifing drength ; by this ftru&ure of the legs, it is qua¬ 
lified for running at a furprifing rate : the prominence of the eyes is fo Angular, that 
the creature feems to have a power of feeing every way at once with them 5 and it is 
faid, that they are not clofed, even when the creature fleeps. As an attention to dan¬ 
ger is the great means of this creature’s efcaping it, the ears are calculated in the fame 
manner for anfwering that purpofe : they are always in a pofition to receive the lead 
founds, and are moveable with a furprifing eafe. 
The hare is a native of almoft all parts of the world * it lives folitary, and remains 
quiet all the day, only feeding in the night. In the northern counties it becomes white 
in winter, only that the ears continue grey, and their tips black. In fome places they 
are grey all the year, in others white; with us, and, in mod parts of the South of 
Europe, the colour is a tawny, with a ferrugineous tinge, but this is not determinate : 
the tail is fhort, downy, and abrupt. All the writers on quadrupeds have defcribed it, 
and all under the fame name Lepus. 
Lepus cauda breviffma , pupillis rubris . 
The red-eyed Lepus> with a very Jhort tail 
Babbit. 
This is, though a fmaller, a handfomer creature than the hare, and not only in dif¬ 
ferent countries is of different colours, as that is, but has a great variety even in the fame : 
the head is fmall and fhort; the eyes are large, prominent, and red 5 the mouth is 
fomewhat larger, in proportion, than that of the hare : the ears are very long, and 
the legs are, in the fame manner, as in that fpecies, of different length ; the hinder 
pair being much longer than the fore ones. The general colour of the Rabbit, in this 
country, is a pale brownifh-grey on the back, and white on the belly, but we have 
It darker, of a filvery grey, and altogether white. 
It is common to mod parts of the world ; and all the authors who have Written on 
quadrupeds have defcribed it, and all under the fame name Cuniculus. 
Lepus cauda elongata. 
The long-tailed Lepus . 
^bman Babbtt. 
This is of the fize of our common rabbit, but the body is fomewhat thinner, in 
proportion to it’s length : the head is fmall, oval, and obtufe ; the eyes are very large 
and prominent, and of a ferrugineous colour, with a changeable tinge of green : the 
ears are very long, and the mouth is fmall, but the teeth are large : the fore-legs are 
remarkably fhort and flender, but the hinder pair are proportionably longer, and more 
robed than in our hare : the tail is very remarkable} it is confiderably long, and takes 
off b reatly from the refemblance to the hare or rabbit-kind : the colour is very vari¬ 
ous } they are formed of all the degrees of grey, from the very paled to what is 
nearly black: the belly in all is pale and whitifh, and in winter they are all over 
6 S white. 
