Ncl-^on — Seven yeiv Babbits. 109 



Dc'^cripliou of type in vwter pelage. — Top of head dingy grizzled buffy ; 

 Inick liutty with a slii>h( tinge of dull reddinh brown, lieavily mottled and 

 grizzled with lAauk ; sides of body paler and giayer ; thighs and rump up to 

 median line iron gray; a heavy black band divides thegray of rump along 

 median line and covers top of tail ; under side of tail dingy gray ; sides of 

 iiead and neck dull buffy, palest on cheeks and darker with a slight tinge 

 of viuaceous on sides of neck ; under side of neck deep dull buffy; chin 

 and under side of lK)dy white; top of liind feet dingy white becoming 

 grayish on toes; top of fore legs dingy bufiy thinly grizzled with blackish; 

 ears finely grizzled yellowish gray on front half of convex surface, and 

 fiinged witli slightly yellowish white hairs on anterior edge; posterior 

 half of convex surface white, with a distinct lilack spot covering 35 mm. of 

 the tip and extending a dusky edge around border of anterior part of tip; 

 naj)e grizzled grayish without a trace of black patch characteristic of 

 L. tiin-ria))ii. 



Skxll rlKirinii'n^. — Skull lighter and rather smaller than that of L. mer- 

 rianti, and practically indistinguishable from that of L. (c.riainis from 

 Chihuahua and the Texas boundary. 



Measureinentit of t]ij)e [fnkcn in fie^h). — Total length, 575; tail vertebrae, 

 78 ; hind foot, 126; ear from notch (from dried skin), 138. 



MeafturcmeniK of type i<kuJl. — Occipito-nasal length, 1)().5 ; basal length, 74 ; 

 length of nasals, 43 ; greatest interorbital breadth, 2(1.5 ; parietal breadth, 

 31 ; depth of rostrum at front base of premolars, 25 ; width of rostrum 

 above same point, 20 ; greatest diameter of bulhie, 14. 



Specimens examined. — Nine. 



General notes. — This species is apparently most closely related to L. mer- 

 riami asellus, from which its even larger ears and entire absence of black 

 patch on nape at once distinguish it. The nape is much like that of 

 L. teorianus, and the skull is a little smaller and lighter than that of merriami 

 and scarcel.y distinguishable from that of tcxiaims. The color of back and 

 general appearance of this animal is that of a dark-colored L. merriami with 

 extraordinarily large ears and no black nape patch. Its habitat is at the 

 southern border of that of L. m. ase/lns and widely sei)arated from that of 

 L. texianus. 



Lepus merriami altamiree subsj). nov. 



ALTA MIRA JACK KABBrr. 



Type No. 93,691, adult male, U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey 

 Collection. From Alta INIira, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Collected May 16, 1898, 

 by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Original number 12,365. 



Geographic distribution. — Coastal plains in southern part of Tamaulipas, 

 extreme northern Vera Cruz, and eastern San Luis Potosi. 



Zon((l distribution. — Arid tropical. 



Subspecifc characters. — Similar to typical merriami in color, but under side 

 of neck deeper and clearer buffy, and black nape patch distinctly separated 

 into two parallel black stripes by a well-defined median band of yellowish 



