Vol. XVII. pp. 131-134 July 14. 1904. 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



ILL.! 



JACK RABBITS OF THE LEPUS CAMPESTRIS GROUP. 



BY C. HART IMERRIAM. 



The large while-tailed jack raliliit of the Xorthern Plains was 

 named Lepiix ra nijicstrls ])y Baehnian in ls;}7. The type speei- 

 iiieii came from the plains of the Saskatchewan. Two years 

 later (is;;!)) he deserihed, under the name Lcpns (otonsendi, a 

 elosel}^ related speeii's fi-om Walla Walla, on the plains of the 

 Cojumhia. \\'atei-honse, in 184S, nnited the tw'O, placing 

 tdiriisendl as a synonym under campestris. This course lias been 

 follow'ed by sul)sequent naturalists. 



An examination of the jack raljbits of this group in the col- 

 lection of the U. S. Biological Survey show^s that toivnsendi is a 

 strongly marked form of the campestris group, and that another 

 form, heretofore unrecognized, l)ut here named siernf, inhabits 

 the Sierra Nevada of California. The three forms, with their 

 ranges so far as uoav known, may be defined as follows: 



Lepus campestris Bachraan. 



Lepus camppfitrla Bachinaii, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., VII, Pt. 2, 

 349-352, 1837. 



Type locality. — Plains of Saskatchewan. 



Rnnge. — Northern Great Plains from Plains of Saskatchewan sonthward 

 to Kansas, and fn^ni Minnesota westward to tlie Rocky Mountains. From 

 23— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. Vul. XVII, 1904. (131) 



