ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
31 
The flying squirrels are represented in Africa by another 
group, constituting a special Family, the Anomaluridas, so 
called from the existence of a remarkable series of large 
hard scales at the base of their long tails, and they are 
distinguished by these and some other structural features 
from the ordinary flying squirrels. 
The Hares and Rabbits belong to the least specialized 
section of the Rodentia, viz. the Glires dupiicidentali, 
comprising those rodents which differ from all other rodents 
in having a small pair of incisors immediately behind the 
front pair in the upper jaw, thus giving rise to the appear¬ 
ance of double teeth, hence the name given to the group. 
It includes, besides the hares and rabbits, the genus 
Lagomys , which contains a number of small short-tailed 
rodents, only found in temperate regions. 
No wild rabbits occur in India proper, the genus 
being represented by two species of hares—the common 
hare Lcpus ruficaudatus , and the black-naped hare, L. nigri- 
collis , but besides these two, there is another hare which 
presents certain anatomical characters which separate 
it from the genus Lcpus , and the animal is known as the 
Hispid Hare, Carpolagus hispidus of Blyth, and sometimes 
is erroneously called, as in the Dacca district, the black 
rabbit. Its chief distribution is along the base of the 
Himalaya, in the Terai, from Gorakhpur to Assam, and 
southwards to Dacca, occurring also apparently in the Raj- 
mahal hills. The hispid hare is distinguished by its short 
ears, its coarse hispid fur, which is of the colour of an ordi¬ 
nary hare but darker, the upper surface in adults being more 
or less washed with black ; and it is its dark colour when 
seen in the jungle that has obtained for it the name of 
black rabbit. Very little is known about the habits of this 
