1897.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 209" 



and 76° 30', where the Virginia Deer does not now exist in a wild 

 state. In some of these it is practically exterminated, occurring 

 in its former haunts only as a straggler. In none of these is it 

 common, even in the most protected wilds. 



Of the localities known to the writer, those most frequented 

 by deer are the headquarters of Loyalsock Creek, Sullivan Co., the 

 northern part of Clinton County, and Licking Creek in the northern 

 part of Fulton County. 



Seth Nelson (Jr.) killed 23 deer in the fall season of 1873, chiefly 

 in Clinton County. In. the period between 1861 and 1865 the deer 

 became so numerous in that county that they greatly damaged the 

 crops, and snaring was employed to diminish their numbers. In con- 

 trast with this there were killed in 1895, in his vicinity, all told, only 

 ten deer, and most of these out of season, by wild hounds or pot 

 hunters. The chief agencies in the extermination of deer are forest 

 fires and wandering dogs, both of which pursue their relentless course 

 during the entire year, the latter being ten times as destructive as 

 the gray wolf ever was. 



5. Lepus sylvaticus Bachin. Carolinian Wood Hare. 



With the exception of the deepest evergreen forest areas on the 

 higher mountains, no locality in Pennsylvania is a stranger to this 

 abundant species. In the northern counties, at higher altitudes, it 

 is represented by the following race. 



6. Lepus sylvaticus transitionalis Bangs. Alleghenian Wood Hare. 



Two specimens, almost typical of this subspecies, as described by 

 Mr. Bangs, were recently received from Mr. Nelson, who took them 

 near his home in Clinton County. A specimen from Summit Mills, 

 Somerset Co., taken by Mr. Ingersoll, shows a near approach to the 

 Clinton County specimens ; but four others, from the same locality, 

 are nearer sylvaticus. As the higher forested mountains are cleared, 

 this is the form of" Cottontail Rabbit " which replaces the now nearly 

 exterminated "Snowshoe Rabbit" or Varying Hare. 



7. Lepus americanus virginianus (Harl.). Alleghenian Varying Hare. 



This southern race of the Northern or Varying Hare is rapidly 

 approaching extinction in the greater part of the Pennsylvania Alle- 

 ghenies once inhabited by it. In the more retired tamarack and hem- 

 lock swamps of the northern counties this hare is fairly numerous, 

 but they remain only in isolated places on the main ridge of the 

 western mountains, southward. In the region traversed by Mr. 



