ROMEROLAGUS. LEPUS. 413 



Geogr. Distr. Mt. Popocatepetl, State of Mexico, and Mt. Iztac- 

 cihuatl ? Mexico. 



Genl. Char. Those of genus. 



Color. Upper parts, collar, and sides grayish brown and black, 

 suffused with yellowish; chin and belly smoky gray washed with 

 buff; feet buffy yellow. 



Measurements. Total length, 311; tail vertebrae, o; hind foot, 

 53; ear from notch (skin), 36. Skull: occipito-nasal length, 48; 

 Hensel, 38; zygomatic width, 25; across orbital processes, 13; palatal 

 length, 20; length of mandible, angle to symphysis, 31; height at 

 coronoid process, 23. 



84. Lepus. 



Lepus Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 1758, p. 57; i, 1766, p. 79. Type Lepus 

 timidus Linnaeus. 



Hydrolagus Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d Ser., xx, 1867, p. 221. 



Silvilagus Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d Ser., xx, 1867, p. 222. 



Tapcti Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d Ser., xx, 186} , p. 224. 



Macrotolagus Mearns, Science, i, 1895, p. 698. Id. Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., 1896, p. 552. 



Microlagus Trouess., Cat. Mamm. vivent. quam fossil, 18197, fasc 3, 

 p. 660. 



Limnolagus Mearns, Science, N. S., v, 1897, P- 393- 



Skull high, superior outline much curved, especially at occipital 

 region ; postorbital processes in the majority of species long, more or 

 less divergent, flanking a deep wide notch, their posterior extremities 

 not completely fused with skull; (exceptions to this are the swamp 

 hares which have this process ankylosed to the cranium by its tip, or 

 its internal margin) ; all the openings of the skull are large ; facial sur- 

 face of the maxilla reticulated; orbits very large, meeting in the mesial 

 line of the cranium ; teeth more numerous than in any other family of 

 rodents; second pair of upper incisors small, situated behind the chief 

 pair; the latter is grooved deeply in front, and all are deeply implanted 

 in the skull and lower jaw; molars rootless; third upper molar minute; 

 last lower molar larger, but still much the smallest of the lower series; 

 palate a mere bridge between molars. The scapula ends in a process, 

 which has near its termination a branch directed at right angles to the 

 axis; tibia and fibula always ankylosed; fore feet with five toes, hind 

 feet with four. A patch of hair covered skin on inner surface of cheeks 

 extending backward from the angle of mouth. Hind legs elongate, in 

 some species greatly so; ears very long; tail rudimentary. 



