LEPUS, the hare, is of the family Leporidm. There are five species known to inhabit the East Indies,—L. ruficaudatus, the common Indian hare ; L. nigricollis, the black-naped L. hispidus, the hispid hare ; L. Peguensis of Burma, and L. pallipes of Tibet. Hares are unknown in Arakan and in the Tenasserim provinces, also throughout the Malayan Peninsula and Archipelago, with the exception of Lepus nigricollis, E Cur., in Java, which has most probably been introduced from South India or Ceylon, as it doubtless likewise has in the Mauritius ; but several notices occur of hares in the Judo - Chinese countries, even in Cochin-China the species being as yet undeter mined.
Lepus iEgypticus, Egyptian hare, is found in Egypt.
Lepus cuniculus, Linn., rabbit, coney.
Konyn, Konin, . IIELa. Coelho, . . Pony.
Kanine, . . . DAN. Conejo, . . . ISP.
Konyn, Koniu, . Day. Kanin, . . . . SW.
Knninchen, . . . Gmt.. Cwuingen, . WELNII.
Coniglio, . . . .
The rabbit begins to breed at the age of six months, and produces several broods in a year, generally from five to seven or eight at a time. The young are blind at their birth, and nearly naked. The fur of the rabbit is in considerable demand, particularly for the hat trade ; and at one time the silver-haired varieties, or silver sprigs, fetched three shillings a piece, for orna mental linings to cloaks.
Lepus hispidus, Pearson.
Caprolagus hispidus, Bl. , I limpid hare, . . ENG.
The groat sal forest at the base of the sub Himalaya and of their offsets, from Gorakhpur to Tiperah, also at Siligori in the Terai, is the peculiar and exclusive habitat of time hispid hare, which never ventures into the open plains on the one hand, or into the mountains on the other ; and hence it is but little known, deep cover and deadly malaria contributing alike to its obscurity. As the black-necked bare or L. nigricollis is the single species of the Dekhan, and the redtail, L. ruficaudata, of Hindustan and Bengal, so is the hispid of the vast sub-Himalayan forest ; and it is remarkable that the mountains beycind the forest, even up to the perpetual snows, have no peculiar species. The sal forest hare feeds chiefly on
roots and the bark of trees, a circumstance as remarkably in harmony with the extraordinary rodent power of its structure as are its small eyes and ears, weighty body, and short, strong legs, with what has been just stated relative to the rest of its habits. The whole forms u beautiful instance of adaptation without the slightest change of organism. If anything, the male is rather the larger and darker. The male measures 191 inches from snout to vent. The female is 19 inches long and 5} lbs. Both have a girth behind the shoulder of 12 inches. Compared with the common species, these animals are conspicuously of darker hue and heavier make, but not larger. They have heavier heads, much shorter ears, smaller eyes, shorter tails, limbs shorter, stronger and less unequal,—in that respect like a rabbit ;— and, lastly, their mystaccal tufts are much less, and their fur much harsher. Tho profile of the head is less curved in the hispid than in the common species, the nails somewhat larger, and the digits slightly different in gradation, the thumb in particular being less withdrawn, and the little finger more so, from the front, in hispidus. The ears both in male and female considerably exceed one-half of the length of the bead, and are broader as well as shorter than in L. ruficaudatus or L. timidus ; and it is remarkable that the tail in the male is shorter than in the both more so than in J.. timidus. The teats are six, two pectoral and four ventral.
Lepus macrotus inhabits the Himalaya and Nepal. It is larger than the black-necked hare, of the Indian plains.
Lepus Cue., lily., L. melanauclicn, Tenon.