354 
throughout the Palaeartic region, the two species interbreed freely, 
and the result is shown in the young, the gray saddle-back of the 
hooded crow exhibiting a considerable admixture of black, owing 
to the strain of C. corone in the parentage. The case of the gold 
finches is not quite so completely proved, but is apparently a parallel 
instance of hybridisation.”—(Nature. vol. xxxv., ft. ij.) 
“ The hare (.Leftus timidus) is assuredly of a distinct species from 
the rabbit (.Leftus cuniculus). So distinct are these species, that 
any classification which should range them as one, would violate 
every accepted principle. The hare is solitary, the rabbit gre 
garious ; the hare lives on the surface of the earth, the rabbit burrows 
under the surface ; the hare makes her home among the bushes, 
the rabbit makes a sort of nest for her young in her burrow—keeping 
them there till they are weaned ; the hare has reddish-brown flesh, 
the rabbit white flesh ; while the odour exhaled by each and the 
flavour of each are unmistakably different. The hare has many 
anatomical characters differing from those of the rabbit—such as 
greater length and strength of the hind legs, larger body, shorter 
intestine, thicker skin, firmer hair, and different colour. The hare 
breeds only twice or thrice a year, and at each litter has only two 
or four ; the rabbit will breed eight times a year, and each time 
has four, six, seven, and even eight young ones. Finally, the two 
are violent foes ; the rabbits always destroy the hares, and all 
sportsmen are aware that if the rabbits be suffered to multiply on 
an estate, there will be small chance of hares. Nevertheless, between 
species so distinct as these, a new hybrid race has been reared 
by M. Rouy [jiV], of Angouleme, who each year sends to market 
upwards of a thousand of his Leporides, as he calls them. His object 
was primarily commercial, not scientific. His experiments, extend 
ing from 1847 to the present time (i860), have not only been of great 
commercial value—introducing a new and valuable breed—but have 
excited the attention of scientific men, who are now availing them 
selves of his skill and experience to help them in the solution of 
minor problems. It is enough to note here that these hybrids of 
the hare and the rabbit are fertile, not only with either hares or 
rabbits, but with each other. Thirteen generations have already 
been enumerated, and the last remains so vigorous that no cessation 
whatever is to be anticipated. In presence of this case (and others, 
though less striking, might be named) there is but one alternative ; 
either we must declare that rabbits and hares form one and the 
same species—which is absurd—or we must admit that new types 
may be formed by the union of two existing types. ... If the 
doctrine of Fixity of Species acknowledges the touchstone of 
hybridity, the fate of the doctrine is settled for ever.”—(George 
Henry Lewes. Studies in Animal Life. ftp. 161-3.)