leporine

1. (historical) A supposed hybrid between a hare and a rabbit, now known not to exist; a leporide.Examples: "I come now to the more interesting part of my subject, viz. that of the Leporines—hybrids, so called, between the hare and the rabbit. It has been stated that M. Rouy, of Angoulême, has bred for the market a thousand of these Leporines yearly—that they are fertile both with the hare and the rabbit, and with each other."; "In France there is a hybrid bred between the rabbit and the hare, known as the leporine, that is said to be fertile; I do not know much about it. I tried to get some definite information on the matter and failed. I simply know that I have seen numers of statements going the rounds of the press that the leporine is a valuable poultry animal raised for food, and is a cross between the hare and the rabbit, and that it is fertile. If so, it is the only case I know of where the continued fertility is kept up."; "Mr. Thomas Christy enquired what position the so-called Belgian Hare or Leporine occupied in relation to the question of hybridity; and was answered that the popular notion of that animal being a hybrid between Hare and Rabbit was fallacious, since it was nothing more than an overgrown tame Rabbit coloured like a Hare."historical