Note 2097 — BOOK VIII. THE NATURE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS. (continued 2)

Hardouin gives references to the authors who have observed this change in the colour of the hare, apparently depending upon the peculiar locality, and its consequent exposure to a low temperature. Cuvier considers it as characteristic of a peculiar species, the Lepus variabilis, “which being peculiar to the highest mountains, and the regions of the north, is white in winter.”—B.