1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 365 



as regards the hares of Baffin Land. This [statement] was included 

 in my mss. of Bulletin No. 15 [1. c.] and crossed out by the final 

 proof-reader, leaving my bare statement." Mr. Kumlien brought 

 four specimens of Cumberland Gulf hares to the United States. 

 One of these (No. 12,946, Sm. Inst.), a skin in white pelage, lacking 

 head, is the only one remaining, the rest having been lost or acci-^ 

 dentally destroyed by fire at the Wisconsin University. 



No other Baffin Land specimens being discoverable, we are 

 forced to rest our assumptions of the cranial characters of the hares 

 of that region on the single skull which has come to hand. The ap- 

 parent discrepancy between the dark color of this summer speci- 

 men and that reported by Mr. Kumlien in the above quotations is 

 explainable. An examination of the itinerary of the Howgate 

 Polar Expedition shows that Mr. Kumlien was absent from Baffin 

 Land between the 6th of July and the 31st of August, which more 

 than covers the short period in "which the Polar Hares of that lati- 

 tude retain their full summer pelage. The " gray " phase noted by 

 him was the intermediate condition of molt. Cajjtain Hall's state- 

 ment may have related to the more northern form. 



Lepus ardicHS and its subspecies, bangsi, may be cranially dis- 

 tinguished from timidus of Sweden by the greater relative height 

 and breadth of skull to its length, by the upraised anvil-shaped su- 

 praorbital processes and the relatively short, broad incisive fora- 

 mina. Taking summer specimens of southern Sweden and Labra- 

 dor, strictly comparable on account of latitude, the external charac- 

 ters separating arcticus from timidus are striking, the former being 

 dark plumbeous-gray above, with black ears, and unicolor white tail, 

 the latter rusty brownish-black, with darker ears of the same color, 

 and bicolor gray and white tail. Typical arcticus undoubtedly re- 

 sembles closely, in summer pelage, the hare of North Greenland, L. 

 yrcenlandicus. 



Specimens examined. — Baffin Land, Niatilik, 1 bead and neck 

 skin, with skull. Interior form, N. "W. Territory, 1 skin, 2 skulls. 



Lepus arcticus bangsi Rhoads. Newfoundland Polar Hare. PI. IX, figs. 1, 2 <fe 3. 

 PI. X, figs. 1 & 2. 



Lepus arcticus 3««ifj?V Rhoads, Araer. Nat , 1896, p. 253. Type from Codry, 

 Newfoundfound, No. 3,752, ad. ?, Col. of E. A. & O. Bangs. Collected by 

 Ernest Doane, Aug. 3, 1895. 



Geographic distribution. — Newfoundland, northeastern Labrador 

 and southern Baffin Land. 



