History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

n MAMMALIA. FERA. Mvoxrs.common kind, but live and breed in holes apart. The fur is of a dirty ashcolourabove, paler beneath, of a silky fineness, and 3 inches or more inlength.32. L. variabilis. Alpine Hare. — Ears shorter than thehead, and black towards the tips, the rest of the body dusky insummer, and white in winter.Barrington, Phil. Trans. 17/2. p. \\,~Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 102 Walker'sEssays, p. 493. S, White hare; G, Maigheach-gheal Inhabiting theScottish mountains, and rarely descending lower than 1500 feet abovethe level of the sea.The Hon. Daines Barrington assigns as the length, in inches, of the forelegs,from the uppermost joint to the toe, of the hare, 7* ; rabbit, 4.^ ; alpinehare, 6£ ;— of the hind-legs,in the hare, 11 ; rabbit, (if ; alpine hare, lOf ;—the length of the body from the rump to the mouth, in the hare, 22 ; rabbit,1G^ ; alpine hare, 22. This last species holds, therefore, an intermediaterank between the hare and the rabbit, in reference to its dimensions. Theears are white behind, and in summer they are brownish before, and in wintergrey. The lips are always black. It lurks beneath stones and in holesin precipices. Said to be easily tamed. Breeds a few hundred feet below thesummits of the higher mountains. Forster, in his Natural History of the Volga,Phil. Trans. 17C5, p. 343., intimates that the fur of this species is greatly inferiorto that of the common hare. Dr Leach considers the L. albus of Brisson,to which he refers the Scottish hare, to be different from the L. variabilisof Pallas (Boss's Voyage, App. No. iv. p. 151., and Annals of Phil. xiv.201.)The following notices on the change of colour in this species are interesting.The varying hare becomes white in winter. This remarkablechange takes place in the following manner : About the middle of Septemberthe grey feet begin to be white, and before the month ends, all the four feetare white, and the ears and muzzle are of a brighter colour. The white colourgradually ascends the legs and thighs, and we observe under the greyhair whitish spots, which continue to increase till the end of October ; butstill the back continues of a grey colour, while the eye-brows and ears arenearly white. From this period the change of colour advances very rapidly,and by the middle of November the whole fur, with the exception of the tipsof the ears, which remain black, is of a shining white. The back becomes whitewithin eight days. During the whole of this remarkable change in the fur,no hair falls from the animal ; hence it appears that the hair actually changesits colour, and that there is no renewal of it. The fur retains its white colouruntil the month of March, or even later, depending on the temperature ofthe atmosphere, and by the middle of May it has again a grey colour. Butthe spring change is different from the winter, as the hair is completely shed ;"Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. ii.p. 191. The laws regulating the colour of thesummer and winter covering of quadrupeds and birds I have given in detailin my " Philosophy of Zoology," vol. ii. p. 1 5.Gkn. XX. MYOXUS.Roots ofside.Dormouse.— No subsidiary incisors.the grinderswith fangs.— Grinders four on eachHairy.Destitute of a caecum.33. M. avellanar'ms. Common Dormouse.— Fur abovetawny red ; beneath white ; tailbushy.Mus avellanarum, Men: Pin. p. 1G7— 110— Ray-, Quad. p. 220—Linn. Syst.i.p. 83 Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. Walker's Essays, p. 499. E,Sleeper W, Pathew Inhabits woods and ; hedges. Rare in Scotland.