The hare is of a flexible, yet firm nature, for though dispersed over almost every climate of the Old Continent, yet it continues nearly the same, its skin only becoming rather whiter during the winter in very cold climates, but it resumes its natural colour in summer, which only varies from a fallow to a reddish hue. The qualities of the flesh vary also, for the red hares are always the best eating. But the rabbit, though not of so flexible a nature as the hare, being less diffused, and seemingly confined to particular countries, is, nevertheless, subject to more variations; because the hare is in every part of the world wild, whereas the rabbit is almost every where half domesticated. The wild rabbits have varied in their colours, from fallow to white or black; they have also varied in size, and in the quantity and quality of their fur. This animal, which is originally a native of Spain, has acquired a long tail in Tartary, and a thick bushy coat in Syria. Black hares are often found in cold countries. It is asserted also that in Norway, and some other northern regions, there are hares with horns. Klein has given figures of two of these horned hares. It is easily seen, from an inspection of these figures, that the horns resemble those of the roe-buck. This variety, if it exists, is only individual, and probably appears in those places alone where the hare cannot meet with grass, and is obliged to feed on the bark, buds, and leaves of trees. The elk, whose species is confined to the northern part of the two continents, is only less in America than in Europe, and we see by the enormous horns found under the ground in Canada, Russia, Siberia, &c. that these animals were formerly much larger than they are at present. This difference of size proceeded perhaps from the perfect tranquillity which they enjoyed in the forests; and, not being disturbed by the human species, which had not at that time penetrated into those climates, they were at liberty to chuse their residence in those spots where the air, soil, and water agreed best with their constitutions. The rein-deer, which the Laplanders have rendered domestic, is, on this account, more changed than the elk, which has not yet been reduced to slavery. The wild rein-deer are larger, stronger, and their hair is blacker than the domestic kind: the last have varied in the colour of their hair, and also in the size of their horns. The lichen, or the rein-deer liverwort, constitutes the principal food of these animals, and seems, by its quality, to contribute greatly to the nutritive growth of the horns, which are proportionally larger in the rein-deer than in any other species; and it is, perhaps, this same nutriment which in this climate produces horns on the head of the hare, in the same manner as it does upon that of the female rein-deer; for in every other climate, there are no horned hares, nor any female animal that is furnished with horns like the male.