Blyth long ago suggested that leucotism was the best term that could be employed to designate a phase of abnormal whiteness unassociated with red irides, and it may well be doubted if his term can be improved.
Some fifty years ago a beautiful white hare frequented Lowther Park in Westmoreland. It was, rationally enough, preserved for a time, but came to an untimely end nevertheless, being accidentally killed by a scythe. Three years afterwards a pure white leveret appeared in the same locality. Similar animals have been killed at one time or another in most parts of England. A pure white hare was killed in Lincolnshire in September 1894. No fewer than three white hares were killed in Nottinghamshire in 1888. 'In October last,' says Mr. J. Whitaker, 'the Earl of Burford shot at Bestwood Park, near here, a full-grown white hare with eyes of a pale blue, so often seen in white varieties. A white leveret also was caught, soon after it had left the nest, in the previous April. Possibly they were both of the same litter. In December last a white hare was shot at Rufford, and it is very curious that these should have occurred in one year, especially as there are now so few hares left—not one to twenty of former days. No white hare has occurred about here for forty years to my knowledge, though hares used to swarm all over these
