73 



VOL. XIII, PP. 39-40 MAY 29, 1-899 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW POLAR HARE FROM LABRADOR* 

 BY GERRIT S. MILLER, JR. 



Certain marked discrepancies are apparent in the measure 

 ments of Polar Hares from Labrador and Newfoundland tabu 

 lated under tbe name Lepus arcticus bangsi by Mr. Samuel N. 

 Rhoads in his recent ' Synopsis of the Polar Hares of North 

 America.' f They are, however, passed by without comment. 

 On examining the specimens in the United States National Mu 

 seum, together with a few lent me by Mr. Outram Bangs, I find 

 that these differences are correlated with others, both cranial 

 and external, and that the Labrador Polar Hare is readily sep 

 arable from true Lepus bangsi (Rhoads) of Newfoundland. Its 

 relationship to the Polar Hare of Baffin Land, Lepus arcticus 

 Ross, is, through the loss of Mr. Kumlien's specimens, less easily 

 determinable. Lepus arcticus, however, according to the best tes 

 timony, never assumes a complete dark summer coat ; while the 

 Mingle skull that I have examined differs from that of any of the 

 Labrador specimens. As the Polar Hare of Labrador cannot be 

 identified with either Lepus arcticus or Lepus bangsi it may stand 

 as : 



Lepus labradorius sp. nov. 



1896. Lepus arcticus bangsi Rhoads, American Naturalist, XXX, p. 253. 



March, 1896 (part). Type locality, Codroy, Newfoundland. 

 1896. Lepus arcticus bangsi Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 



p. 365. August 4, 1896 (part). 



Cotypes: Skin No. 14149, United States National Museum, collected at 

 Fort Chimo, Ungava, Labrador, September 28, 1882, by Lucien M. Turner 



* Published by permission of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 tProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia (1896), pp. 351-376. 



in Hun.. Sue. WASH., VOL. XIII, 1899 (3'J) 



