164 On Caprolagus^ a new genus of Leporine Mammalia. 



cuous ; the ears are comparatively very short ; tail the same ; 

 limbs small, and much less unequal than in Lepus ; and the claws 

 are particularly strong, straight, and very sharp- pointed, being 

 obviously of important use in the creature^ s oeconomy : lastly, the 

 fur is very remarkable for an animal of the Leporine group, on 

 account of its harshness, which is well expressed by the specific 

 appellation hispidus. 



The skull is much more solid and strong than in any Lepus, 

 with every modification that should contribute to increased 

 strength, but upon the same subtypical model of conformation ; 

 dentition also similar, but the grinders broader and more power- 

 ful, and the incisors and rodential tusks proportionally much 

 larger : the palatal foramina are reduced so that the bony palate 

 is as long as broad ; the ant-orbital foramina are nearly closed by 

 obliquely transverse bony spiculse, corresponding to the open 

 bony network observable in Lepus ; the nasal bones are broad, 

 with an evenly arched transverse section, and are less elongated 

 backward than in the true Hares, — the maxillaries and intermax- 

 illaries corresponding in their greater width and solidity ; zygoma 

 also fully twice as strong as in Lepus ; the super-orbital processes 

 continued forward uninterruptedly, the anterior emargination 

 seen in the Hares being quite filled up with bone, while the pos- 

 terior is also much less deep. 



What little is known of its essential anatomy is, as might be 

 expected, identical, or nearly so, with that of typical Lepus. Mr. 

 Pearson notices that " the mammse are from six to ten ; csecum 

 very large, apparently almost like a second stomach ; womb 

 double.". 



The length of the Society's specimen as mounted, is, in a 

 straight line from nose to tail-tip, fifteen inches and a half; ears 

 posteriorly two inches ; tail with hair scarcely one and a half; 

 tarsus to end of claws three and three-quarters ; entire length of 

 skull the same : fur of two kinds, that next the body short, deli- 

 cately soft and downy, and of an ashy hue ; the longer and outer 

 fur harsh and hispid, and consisting partly of hairs annulated 

 with black and yellowish brown, and partly of longer black hairs, 

 all the black having rather a bright gloss : lower parts paler or 

 dingy whitish : toes somewhat yellowish white : fur of the tail 

 rufescent above and below, except near its base underneath, and 

 not of the same harsh texture as the body fur. 



Mr. Pearson, in his original description of this species, remarks 

 as follows : "From the notes of Mr. C. D. Russell, who sent the 

 stufied skin from which the description has been drawn up, I 

 learn that the animal was killed on the right bank of the river 

 Teestah, close under the saul forest, and about six miles north of 

 Jelpee Goree. In this place they are said to be very scarce, not 



