TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 555 
towards the first cross, which had too much of the rabbit 
already, and, therefore, was little satisfactory; it was, how¬ 
ever, necessary to get a little further from the hare, of which 
the physiological predominance was diminishing the active 
fecundity of the rabbit, which was so desirable in the new 
breed. There was but one thing to be done, and that was 
to match the three-fourth blood female with the half-blood 
male; this was done by M. Roux with great success, for the 
produce thus obtained has answered the purpose in every 
respect. This new family may be considered as five-eighth 
rabbit and three-eighth hare. Comparing them to the 
domestic species, they might be designated simply as 
leporides three eighths. They have preserved the beauty of 
the physiognomy and conformation of the three fourth 
blood, but they have acquired a greater fecundity. When 
united, inter se, the litters are from five to eight young; they 
are easily reared, their rusticity being even superior to that 
of the rabbit. Their growth is rapid, and they are very 
precocious, and apt for reproduction at the age of four 
months. The time of gestation is thirty days, that of 
suckling their young three weeks. The female will take the 
male again about seventeen days after parturition, and will 
not be over-fatigued with six litters in the year. This family 
of three eighths becomes the industrial breed ; it is produc¬ 
tive, and can be reared with very little expense; it is early 
matured, and furnishes a large quantity of meat in propor¬ 
tion to the food the animal consumes. Their average weight 
is from four to five kilogrammes when one year oldfthe best 
weighing from six to eight kilogrammes; and while the 
rabbit is sold for one franc on the market at Angouleme, the 
leporides, four months old, are sold at two francs ; older, the 
price increases, on account of their fur, which is sometimes 
better than that of the hare, the current price of wthich is as 
much as one franc. The colour is of a red roan, something 
between that of the hare and the rabbit; but the consistence 
of it is that of the former. The ears are of the same length 
as those of the hare, and, what is remarkable, one is erect 
while the other is lopped. The leporides have a bigger 
head, their physiognomy is more open, and they are more 
timid than the rabbit; the eye is also more open, and placed 
nearer the nose; the hind legs are nearly as long as those of 
the hare, but the fore legs are longer, and the tail shorter 
than in the hare, but longer than that of the rabbit. The 
flesh, in every degree of the cross, is very much like that of 
the wild rabbit, that is to say, only little darker than that 
of the tame rabbit, but its taste has nothing that reminds 
