242 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



[1895. 



L. washingtoni. 



56; zygomatic width 87; greatest 

 distance between outer alveoli of 

 right and left maxiliaries 20.7. 



L. americanus. 



the widest part of their expansion, 



and the apex acutely pointed. 

 Greatest triturating width of 

 molars 5 mm; basilar length of 

 skull 58; zygomatic width 37; 

 greatest outer distance between 

 alveolar walls of right and left 

 maxiliaries 24.5. 



It will be seen that the molar and incisor dentition of washing- 

 toni is relatively much weaker than in skulls of americanus of the 

 same size, with a corresponding narrowing of the palatal and rostral 

 area and a corresponding change in the shape of the incisive fora- 

 mina, the constancy of which, coupled with the peculiarity of the 

 frontal process, is to my mind quite sufficient for a specific separation 

 of the Pacific and Atlantic coast representatives of this group. 



The following diagnosis is of a hare whose cranial characters are 

 distinctly the same as those of skulls of americanus from Maine: 



Lepus americanus columbiensis sub sp. nov. Type, ad 9 , No. 462, Col. of S. N. 

 Rhoads, Vernon, B. Columbia. Col. by S. N. Bhoads, July 29, 1892 



Description. Size of average L. americanus. Summer pelage, 

 above, light tawny gray, blackish on rump, tail and anterior border 

 terminal of ears; anterior base of ears, crown, cheeks, upper fore leg 

 sides of hams and upper surfaces of feet light rusty, soles of feet 

 sooty. Inner fore and hind legs, lower head, lips, breast, fore part 

 of abdomen and spot in forehead, white. Lower neck like back. 

 Lower abdomen and tail bluish gray, suffused with rusty. Fur of 

 back with basal half plumbeous, median fourth light rusty, term- 

 inal fourth black, a few of the hairs wholly black and many with 

 minute black tip, and proportionally wider rusty median zone. 



Measurements. Total length 4G5 mm.; tail vertebrae 43 ; hind foot 

 L 40; ear (inner anterior border of dry skin), 72. Skull; total 

 length (occipito-nasal), 79; basilar length, 62; length of nasals, 32.5; 

 posterior interorbital constriction, 10.2; zygomatic expansion, 38; 

 greatest length of mandible, 58; greatest width of same, 35.5. 



This strongly marked race of the Varying Hare is represented by 

 the type and another adult female taken by me in June on the 

 Caribou Road, between Ashcroft and Clinton, B. C. It represents 

 the faunal peculiarities of the arid interior basin of southern British 

 Columbia, and may at once be distinguished from any of the vari- 



