More Melanism The mystery of the coal-black rabbits which, as
previously discussed, have invaded my garden has further deepened. The third generation of these blackamoors has now appeared, though no old parent of this hue has been seen. It is hardly likely that the first blacks to be seen in the spring have already bred ; and the conclusion is that they have sprung from brownish parents and are, so to say, " melattistic mutants" in the phrase of the breeders of pheasants. Has any breeder of tame rabbits found examples of such freakishness? This is not uncommon in wild rabbits, though whole families of blacks are in my experience at least a new phenomenon. Colour does, of course, vary mysteriously in Min), animals. The polecat, for example, which has been multiplying in the west of the country, especially in North Wales, has a red variety, and S wide range of colour has been noticed in the grey squirrel and the stoat, apart from the seasonal changes.
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