302 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 



The specimens being chiefly from Georgia, they give but little information 

 in respect to geographical variation in size or color. 



The species was first described by Bach man in 1837, and its only 

 synonym is Lcpus douglassi van 2 of Gray, of nearly the same date. In 

 addition to the subsequent accounts of this species by Waterhouse, Audu- 

 bon and Bach man, and Baird, Dr. Cones has given a very full biographical 

 account of it in the article above cited. 



Geographical distribution. — The present species is well known as an 

 inhabitant of the marshy lowlands of the South Atlantic States. The most 

 northern locality from which I have seen specimens is Fort Macon, North 

 Carolina, but it in all probability will be found to range northward to the 

 lowlands of Southeastern Virginia. Audubon and Bachman speak of it as 

 abundant in the swamps of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, but 

 Professor Baird has questioned the authenticity of some of these localities, 

 and states that he had never "seen a specimen from the region west of 

 Georgia." Professor Baird's specimens were all from South Carolina and 

 Georgia; there are now in the collection additional specimens from Florida, 

 and one from near Vera Cruz, Mexico. It hence seems probable that it may 

 exist along the Mexican coast from Texas to Yucatan. Audubon and Bach- 

 man believed it would eventually be found in Mexico, as has proved to be 

 the case. In the lowlands of the Lower Mississippi, it extends as far north 

 as Southern Illinois, both Mr. Robert Ridgway and Mr. E. W. Nelson in- 

 forming me that a Marsh Hare occurs along the Wabash River as far up as 

 Mt. Carmel, Illinois.* 



*Mr. Ridgway, under date of April 17, 1OT6, kindly wrote me on this point as follows: "A 'Swamp 

 Rabbit ' or ' Water Rabbit ' is common in Southern Illinois as far north as Mount Carmel, but whether it 

 is palustris or aquaticus I do not know. It is of very common occurrence in the bottom lands, where it 

 frequents bushy swamps and the borders of creeks." Mr. Nelson, under date of April 30, 1876, wrote 

 mo that, when visiting the same locality in the summer of 1875, he " was led to suspect its occurrence in 

 abundance along the Wabash River as far up as Mount Carmel." Ho adds : " My informants told me 

 t hat they found this animal only in damp situations, along the river or about the bayous, in places grown 

 up with rushes or willows, and from the nature of their haunts were very difficult to procure. I after- 

 ward found that this spocies was common in the canebrakes near Cairo, although less abundant than 

 L. aquaticus." 



