Park, and in other places in Staffordshire and Shropshire. They originated,
as I have been informed by the gamekeeper, from variously-coloured domestic
rabbits which had been turned out. They vary in colour; but many are
symmetrically coloured, being white with a streak along the spine, and with
the ears and certain marks about the head of a blackish-grey tint. They
have rather longer bodies than common rabbits), a haemal spine was
moderately well developed on the under side of the twelfth dorsal vertebra,
and I have seen this in no other specimen.
LUMBAR VERTEBRAE.
I have stated that in two cases there were eight instead of seven lumbar
vertebrae. The third lumbar vertebrae in one skeleton of a wild British
rabbit, and in one of the Porto Santo feral rabbits, had a haemal spine;
whilst in four skeletons of large lop-eared rabbits, and in the Himalayan
rabbit, this same vertebra had a well developed haemal spine.
PELVIS.
In four wild specimens this bone was almost absolutely identical in shape;
but in several domesticated breeds shades of differences could be
distinguished. In the large lop-eared rabbits, the whole upper part of the
ilium is straighter, or less splayed outwards, than in the wild rabbit; and
the tuberosity on the inner lip of the anterior and upper part of the ilium
is proportionally more prominent.
(FIGURE 15. TERMINAL BONE OF STERNUM, of natural size, A. Wild Rabbit. B.
Hare-coloured, Lop-eared Rabbit. C. Hare-coloured Spanish Rabbit. (N.B. The
left-hand angle of the upper articular extremity of B was broken, and has
been accidentally thus represented.))
STERNUM.
The posterior end of the posterior sternal bone in the wild rabbit (figure
15, A) is thin and slightly enlarged; in some of the large lop-eared
rabbits (B) it is much more enlarged towards the extremity; whilst in other
specimens (C) it keeps nearly of the same breadth from end to end, but is
much thicker at the extremity.
(FIGURE 16. ACROMION OF SCAPULA, of natural size. A. Wild Rabbit. B, C, D,
Large, Lop-eared Rabbits.)
SCAPULA.
The acromion sends out a rectangular bar, ending in an oblique knob, which
latter in the wild rabbit (figure 16, A) varies a little in shape and size,
as does the apex of the acromion in sharpness, and the part just below the
rectangular bar in breadth. But the variations in these respects in the
wild rabbit are very slight: whilst in the large lop-eared rabbits they are
considerable. Thus in some specimens (B) the oblique terminal knob is
developed into a short bar, forming an obtuse angle with the rectangular
bar. In another specimen (C) these two unequal bars form nearly a straight
line. The apex of the acromion varies much in breadth and sharpness, as may
be seen by comparing figures B, C, and D.
LIMBS.
In these I could detect no variation; but the bones of the feet were too
troublesome to compare with much care.]
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