VOL. XIV, PP. 97-98 JUNE 27, 1901 



PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE ALPINE VARYING HARE.* 



BY GERRIT S. MILLER, JR. 



In the first century B. C. the varying hare of Switzerland 

 was described by Varro.f It was known also to Pliny;J and, 

 in fact, nearly all writers on the mammals of Europe down to 

 the present time have mentioned the animal. When the vary 

 ing hare of northern Europe became known it was supposed to 

 be the same as the Swiss animal, so that the names timidus 

 Linnaeus, <il/>im>n Erxleben, and variabilis Pallas, were applied 

 collectively to both. Melchior is apparently the only writer 

 who has questioned this assumed identity. Five specimens of 

 the Swiss hare in the United States National Museum show con 

 clusively that the species is distinct from that of Sweden. In 

 memory of its first describer it mav be known as: 



Lepus varronis sp. nov. 



Type. Adult male (skin and skull) No. 105,832 United States National 

 Museum. Collected at Orisons, Heinzenber<, Canton of Graubiinden, 



*Published here by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



fl)e Re Rustica, III, cap. XII. 

 tNaturalis historia, III, cap. LV. 

 Den dansko Stats o- Norses Pattedyr, p. 79, 1834. 



16-BiOL. Sue. WASH. VOL. XIV, 1901. (97) 



