hown by the doe having
littered during the voyage. Mr. Wollaston, at my request, brought home two
of these feral rabbits in spirits of wine; and, subsequently, Mr. W.
Haywood sent to me three more specimens in brine, and two alive. These
seven specimens, though caught at different periods, closely resembled each
other. They were full grown, as shown by the state of their bones. Although
the conditions of life in Porto Santo are evidently highly favourable to
rabbits, as proved by their extraordinarily rapid increase, yet they differ
conspicuously in their small size from the wild English rabbit. Four
English rabbits, measured from the incisors to the anus, varied between 17
and 173/4 inches in length; whilst two of the Porto Santo rabbits were only
141/2 and 15 inches in length. But the decrease in size is best shown by
weight; four wild English rabbits averaged 3 lb. 5 oz., whilst one of the
Porto Santo rabbits, which had lived for four years in the Zoological
Gardens, but had become thin, weighed only 1 lb. 9 oz. A fairer test is
afforded by the comparison of the well-cleaned limb-bones of a P. Santo
rabbit killed on the island with the same bones of a wild English rabbit of
average size, and they differed in the proportion of rather less than five
to nine. So that the Porto Santo rabbits have decreased nearly three inches
in length, and almost half in weight of body.[270] The head has not
decreased in length {114} proportionally with the body; and the capacity of
the brain-case is, as we shall hereafter see, singularly variable. I
prepared four skulls, and these resembled each other more closely than do
generally the skulls of wild English rabbits; but the only difference in
structure which they presented was that the supra-orbital processes of the
frontal bones were narrower.

In colour the Porto Santo rabbit differs considerably from the common
rabbit; the upper surface is redder, and is rarely interspersed with any
black or black-tipped hairs. The throat and certain parts of the under
surface, instead of being pure white, are generally pale grey or leaden
colour. But the most remarkable difference is in the ears and tail; I have
examined many fresh English rabbits, and the large collection of skins in
the British Museum from various countries, and all have the upper surface
of the tail and the tips of the ears clothed with blackish-grey fur; and
this is given in most works as one of the specific characters of the
r