52© L E P 
ia6. Leptura cralfipes: black; thighs thick, rufous. 
Inhabits France. 
127. Leptura duo-maculata : rufous; thorax cylindri¬ 
cal ; (hells punftured, with a white l'pot and undulate 
(freak. Inhabits Europe. 
128. Leptura villofa : black villous; thorax cylindrical, 
with a pale ftripe. Inhabits Denmark. 
LEPTU'RUS, f. [from the Gr. fc7r%s, (lender, and epct, 
the tail of an animal.] A genus of graflcs, eflablilhed by 
Mr. Brown, (Prodr. Nov. Moll. 107.) and fo called from 
its long (lender cylindrical (pike. The chief difference 
between Lepturus and Roltbollia feems to lie in the joints 
of the fpike being (ingle-flowered in the former, two- 
flowered in the latter; for in the detail of the florets, re- 
fpebfing the prefence or imperfection of the parts of im¬ 
pregnation, this tribe of grades, and indeed all grades, 
are to be trufled with great caution. See Rottboi.ua. 
LE'PUS,/ The Hare and Rabbit ; a genus of quadru¬ 
peds of the clafs mammalia, order glires, the characters of 
which are—Two fore-teeth in each jaw; in the upper jaw a 
fecond inner row of fore-teeth, confiderably (mailer than the 
outer or primaries; the fore-feet have each five, and the 
bind feet four, toes. Thefe ajiimals are very timid; they 
live on vegetable food ; they ufe the hind-feet in walking 
"as far as the heel, running by a kind of leaps, or repeated 
bounds. They .have either exceedingly (hort tails, named 
/cuts, or none at all. 
Spccm. I. With Tails. 1. Lepus vifcaccia, the Peru¬ 
vian hare. Specific character, tail longilh, befet with 
bridles. Hares of this fpecies inhabit the plains and bafes 
of mountains in the colder parts of Peru and Chili. The 
fur is of a moufe-colour, and fo fine and foft, that, in the 
time of the incas, it was woven into cloth for the Peru¬ 
vian nobles, and is now employed for bonnets by the 
Chilefe. In habit and manner, this refembles the rab¬ 
bit, and digs holes under ground, in which are two 
contiguous chambers ; one in which it deeps ; and the 
other, which is lower, is ufed for eating; its provifions 
are collected in the night. The tail is bufliy, and .much 
longer than that of any other fpecies; and in general it 
turns up, and is ufed as a weapon of defence. 
2.. Lepus timidus, the common hare: tail fliort, ears 
longer than the head, and black at the ends. 
The hare is a well-known animal. Its eyes are very 
large and prominent, its chin is white, and it has long 
white whitkers; the hair or fur on its face, back, and 
(ides, is white at the bottom, black in the middle, and 
tipt with tawny red; its throat and bread are red, its belly 
white; its tail black above, and white beneath ; its feet are 
covered with hair even at the bottom. See the annexed 
Plate, fig. 1. A large hare weighs eight pounds and a half; 
it is (aid, in the Iile of Man feme have been known to 
weigh twelve. The length of a common hare, from the 
nofe to the tail, is two feet. It inhabits all parts of Eu¬ 
rope, mod parts of Afia, Japan, Ceylon, Egypt, and 
Barbary. It is a watchful timid animal, always lean, 
and runs fwifter up hill than on even ground; hence, 
•when darted, it endeavours to run up hill. It frequently 
efcapes the hounds by various artful doublings. It keeps 
all day in its feat, and feeds by night; it returns to its 
form by the fame road that it left it; it does not pair. 
The rutting feafon is February or March, when the male 
purfues the female by the fagacity of its nofe; they 
breed often in the year, go with young only thirty or 
thirty-one days, and bring three or four at a time; they 
admit the male during the time of their gedation, and 
have frequently i'uperfetations. The male and female are 
liable to be midaken the one for the other. The mother 
fuckies her young about twenty days. Their fur is of 
great ufe in the manufacture of bats. They are very 
iubjeCt to fleas ; yet the Dalecarlians make a cloth of 
the fur, which, it is faid, preferves the wearer from fleas. 
Hares feed on vegetables, and are very fond of the bark 
of young trees, except that of the alder and the lime, 
jvhich, it is faid, they never touch j they are great 
L E P 
lovers of birch, parfley, and pinks. Their fled: was a for¬ 
bidden food among the ancient Britons 5 the Romans, on 
the contrary, held it in great efieem: Inter quadrupedes 
gloria prima lepus , was the opinion of Martial; and Horace, 
who was likewife a bon vivant, fays, that every man of 
tade mud prefer the wing -. Fccundi leporis fapiens fe&abitur 
armos. Even at prefent the fledi of the female is preferred 
to that of the male; and that of thofe bred on dry hilly 
ground to that of thofe that refide in marfliy or wet places. 
Hares have neither eye-lids nor eye-la(hes, but a nic¬ 
tating membrane, which remains open while the animal 
deeps; their fight appears to be imperfect; but they have 
an acute fenfe of hearing, and enormous ears in propor¬ 
tion to the lize of their bodies. Thefe long ears they 
move with great facility, and employ them as a rudder to 
direCt their courfe, which is fo rapid that they outdrip all 
other animals. The period of their natural life is faid to 
be about (even years; but, it is laid, the males live longer 
than the females; they pafs their days in (olitude and 
filence, frequently in fear and trembling, as a falling leaf 
is fufficient to alarm them; their voice is never heard but 
when they are feized or wounded ; it is a (harp loud cry, 
and has fome refemblance to the human voice. They 
are eaiily tamed, but never acquire that degree of attach¬ 
ment which is neceflary to make them domedic; they al¬ 
ways take the fird opportunity of regaining their liberty; 
they have been trained to beat a drum, to perform gef- 
tures in cadence, &c. They want not indintt fufficient for 
their own prefervation, nor fagacity for efcaping their 
enemies. The fportfman has frequent opportunities of 
obfervation, and can recount many indances of their l'ur- 
prifing fagacity, though they have not all equal experi¬ 
ence and cunning. They turn more or lei's white with 
age. They are thought to be larger and dronger, in pro¬ 
portion to the coldnefs of the climate. A perpetual en¬ 
mity is carried on againd them, not only by men and 
dogs, but alfo by cats, foxes, wolves, and birds of prey, 
fuch as owls, buzzards, vultures, and eagles; fo that it is 
almod a miracle that any of them efcape deftruction. 
Sportfmen didinguiffi four forts of this animal: the one 
lives in the mountains; the fecond kind in open fields ; 
a third kind in marfliy grounds; and the fourth is a ram¬ 
bler, having no particular fixed l'pot of refidence. It is 
eafy to fee that thefe are no didinctions in the eye of the 
naturalid ; but they have their feveral properties, accord¬ 
ing to thefe differences of place, w’hich are of confequence 
to the fportfmen. Thus the mountain-hares are the 
fvvifted of all, and the marflr-bares the flowed ; the field- 
hares have a middle degree of fwiftnefs between thefe ; 
and the rambling hares are the mod difficult of all others 
to hunt, for they are not only confiderably fwift, but they 
generally know all the coverts and thickets, and have the 
art to make a thoufand doublings and efcapes that tha 
others would not think of. Once more we forbear to en¬ 
large upon hare-hunting. See Hunting, vol. x. p. 4.83. 
Hares and rabbits are very mifehievous to new-planted 
orchards, by peeling off the bark of the tender and young- 
trees for their food. They do alfo the fame fort of mil- 
chief to nurferies; for the prevention of which, fome bind 
ropes about the trees up to fuch a height as they are able 
to reach ; fome daub them with tar; but, though this 
keeps off the hares, it is itfelf mifehievous to the trees ; 
but this hurtful property is in fome degree taken off 
by mixing any kind of fat or greafe with it, and incor¬ 
porating them well over the fire. This mixture is to be 
rubbed over the lower part of the trees in November, and 
will prel'erve them till that time the next year, without 
any danger from thefe animals. It is only in the hard 
weather in the winter feafon, when other food is fcarce, 
that thefe creatures feed on the bark of trees. 
People who have the care of warrens pretend to an 
odd way of making hares fat when they get them there. 
This is the flopping up their ears with wax, and render¬ 
ing them deaf. The hare is fo timorous a creature, that 
(he is continually liftening after every noife, and will run 
a long 
