The American Varying Hares. 7 ( .) 



intermixed along back and on top of head ; flanks, arms, pectoraLband, 

 and often lower sides, rather brighter, more tawny ochraceous; belly and 

 chin to pectoral hand dull white; ears dusky toward tips, bordered by a 

 very conspicuous white hand ; leys and feet (sometimes hands also) dull 

 white irregularly blotched by patches of tawny and ochraceous-buff; soles 

 dusky, often stained, sometimes having an olivaceous cast. Young not 

 essentially different, except that the legs and feet are not white, but pale 

 tawny or ochraeeous-buff. Winter pelage : pure white. 



Cranial characters. — Skull short and broad, not deeply constricted be- 

 hind postorbital processes; nasals wide and flattened on upper surface; 

 incisor teeth very slender and slightly projected outward. 



The skull is difficult to tell from that of L. virginianus, except by its 

 much more slender incisors, which in all 1 have examined have never 

 failed to distinguish it. 



Measurements. — Averages of nine fully adult specimens of both sexes 

 from Hamilton Inlet (near Rigoulette), Labrador: Total length, 471.33; 

 tail vertebras 34.22; hind foot, 146.77. (For individual measurements 

 see table. ) 



Remarks. — Lepus americanus americanus has a more northern and 1 

 think a more restricted distribution than has usually been attributed to 

 it. I have seen no specimens except from Labrador. However, it may 

 occur around the shores of James Bay and thence westward into the in- 

 terior. One specimen collected by Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., at North Bay, 

 Ontario, is apparently an intergrade, though much nearer virginianus, 

 since it has the broad incisor teeth and more constricted interorbital re- 

 gion characteristic of that subspecies. In color it is nearer true ameri- 

 canus, but the white border of the ears is not as pronounced as in that 

 form. Specimens from Mt. Forest, Ontario, and Lake Edward, Quebec, 

 are nearly alike and differ widely from true americanus. In March, 1893, 

 Mr. Will C. Colt collected a series of varying hares for me at Osier, 

 Saskatchewan. All of these specimens are in winter pelage. They are 

 not true americanus, and perhaps represent still another race. They are 

 small, with small skulls, having rather narrow nasals and very broad and 

 strong incisor teeth. It thus appears that if true am ricanus finds its way 

 far into the interior of the country, it must be restricted to the high 

 Hudsonian regions near the limit of trees. 



L. americanus americanus is very abundant throughout the wooded re- 

 gion of the Labrador peninsula. 



I have a series of fourteen specimens collected near Rigoulette, Ham- 

 ilton Inlet, in the summer of 1895, by C. H. Goldthwaite. 



Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan). 



Lepus virginianus Harlan. Fauna Americana, p. 196, 1825. 



Type locality. — Blue Mountains, Pennsylvania. 



Geographic distribution. — Lower Hudsonian, whole of Canadian and 

 much of Transition zones of eastern North America, except Nova Scotia. 

 From Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick it ranges south on the coast 



