viduals with the longest and largest ears, he would thus
indirectly have affected almost every suture in the skull and the form
of the lower jaw!

[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Skull, of natural size, of Half-lop Rabbit,
showing the different direction of the auditory meatus on the two
sides, and the consequent general distortion of the skull. The left ear
of the animal (or right side of figure) lopped forwards.]

In the large lop-eared rabbits the only difference in the lower jaw, in
comparison with that of the wild rabbit, is that the posterior margin
of the ascending ramus is broader and more inflected. The teeth in
neither jaw present any difference, except that the small incisors,
beneath the large ones, are proportionally a little longer. The molar
teeth have increased in size proportionally with the increased width of
the skull, measured across the zygomatic arch, and not proportionally
with its increased length. The inner line of the sockets of the molar
teeth in the upper jaw of the wild rabbit forms a perfectly straight
line; but in {120} some of the largest skulls of the lop-eared this
line was plainly bowed inwards. In one specimen there was an additional
molar tooth on each side of the upper jaw, between the molars and
premolars; but these two teeth did not correspond in size; and as no
rodent has seven molars, this is merely a monstrosity, though a curious
one.

The five other skulls of common domestic rabbits, some of which
approach in size the above-described largest skulls, whilst the others
exceed but little those of the wild rabbit, are only worth notice as
presenting a perfect gradation in all the above-specified differences
between the skulls of the largest lop-eared and wild rabbits. In all,
however, the supra-orbital plates are rather larger, and in all the
auditory meatus is larger, in conformity with the increased size of the
external ears, than in the wild rabbit. The lower notch in the
occipital foramen in some was not so deep as in the wild, but in all
five skulls the upper notch was well developed.

The skull of the _Angora_ rabbit, like the latter five skulls, is
intermediate in general proportions, and in most other characters,
between those of the largest lop-eared and wild rabbits. It presents
only one singular character: though considerably longer than