OCR Text |
Show 230 MR. F. H.WELCH ON LEPUS AMERICANUS. [Apr. 8, at their insertion into the skin, divisible into two varieties as to length and colour,-the one, in the minority, entirely black, average length 1^- inch ; the other, black at extreme tip, succeeded downwards in the shaft by a well-defined tawny band again merging into* black, which fades into light brown at the attached extremity, average length j-^p inch. The delicate, wavy, flocculent undergrowth is of a slaty hue, passing into reddish brown at the free extremity, and of an average length of ^ inch ; the commingling of the hairs in situ produces five zones of colour in the coat, viz:, (proceeding from within outwards) slaty blue, reddish brown, brownish black, tawny, black. On the underparts the components of the fur are the same, of finer texture; the pile being entirely white lightens the hue of the undergrowth, which is slaty blue. No undergrowth is present on the ears, except at the base, and is very slight on the head and feet, especially on the treading-surface; here the hairs are of the same length, wavy in outline, and wiry in character. On the head, ears, and feet the pile is made up only of the shorter coloured hairs ; at the nape of the neck only the undergrowth is present. The autumnal coat is characterized by an increase in length of the outer hairs and undergrowth, generally over the whole body,, and more appreciable as winter approaches. About the commencement of October the first indications of the hybernal change are to be detected: the nose and lips assume au iron-grey hue, from the presence of white hairs; many of the whiskers are white at the tip or some portion of the shaft; a patch of white hairs, twenty to thirty in number, of the size of a split-pea, forms on the centre of the forehead* ; white hairs become apparent on the edges of the ears outside and at their junction with the neck, while on the inside a crop of downy white fluff springs up; a lew of the longer hairs of the pile of the back, especially towards the tail, are observed to be blanched wholly, or only at the tips, while the greater part of the smaller kind are brown at the tip, with the tawny band of the shaft much lighter in colour or even white ; the anterior surface of the feet, especially of the hind ones, is mottled with white. Thus far the most careful examination fails to elicit any addition to the autumnal coat, the change being superficial and entirely dependent on an alteration of colour in existent hairs; the hind feet are the most advanced, then the ears and muzzle, lastly the back. During November this surface-change gradually deepens in intensity, especially around the tail, and on the feet, ears, and face (on the latter by a white streak extending from nose to eyes and upwards to the ears), aud is accompanied by a deeper one of a much more potent character; for on separating the fur a thick crop of white stiff hairs (first apparent at the root of the tail) is to be detected springing up over the back and sides. These hairs, at first extremely minute and entirely of a new growth, rapidly increase in length, accompanied by an advance in the superficial changes above mentioned ; soon they are * " Fancy Rabbits have often a white star on the forehead, and so has the young of L. americanus, like the English Hare" (Darwin, Ainimals and Plants under Domestication, vol. i. p. 140). |