80 Bangs — The American Varying Hares. 



to southern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut and formerly, per- 

 haps, men to New Jersey ; in the Alleghany Mountains to Virginia and 

 West Virginia. 



Subspecific characters. - Size of or slightly larger than L. americanus ameri- 

 canus ; hind foot shorter; skull longer and more deeply constricted be- 

 hind postorbital processes ; incisor teeth much broader and more curved 

 backward; general color of upper parts (in summer pelage) shades of 

 rich reddish brown, russet, and dull ferruginous; white border of ear 

 narrow and inconspicuous, often wanting. 



Color. — Adult in summer pelage : upper parts varying individually from 

 russet to dull, deep ferruginous, generally with a copious intermixture of 

 black tipped hairs along back and on top of head ; belly and chin white; 

 pectoral band colored like back, but without black tipped hairs; ears 

 without white border or with a narrow and inconspicuous one ; legs, feet, 

 hands, and arms seldom white, though sometimes irregularly blotched 

 with white or buff. Young, similar to adults. Winter pelage: white, 

 the under fur and some of the longer hairs often retaining part of their 

 color throughout the winter, especially in more southern localities. 



Cranial characters. — Skull longer and narrower than that of L. america- 

 nus americanus ; more deeply constricted behind postorbital processes; 

 nasals narrower, longer, and less flattened ; incisor teeth broad and strong 

 and more curved backward. The character of the incisor teeth will always 

 serve to distinguish skulls of L. americanus americanus from those of L. 

 americanus virginianus. 



Measurements. — Average of nine fully adult specimens, males and fe- 

 males, from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts: total length, 

 475 ; tail vertebrae, 41.22 ; hind foot, 140.55 (for individual measurements 

 see table). 



General remarks. — Lepus americanus virginianus has an extensive distri- 

 bution, being the form found over the greater part of the range of the 

 species in eastern North America. In the southeastern part of its range, 

 in Massachusetts and Connecticut where it was formerly very common, 

 it is year by year becoming rarer and more local. In this region it is 

 only found in cool, dark woods, extensive tracts of white cedar and white 

 pine being its favorite home. Gradually but steadily, as spots suited to 

 its needs become fewer and smaller, it is being replaced by its more pro- 

 gressive and adaptive cousin, the cotton-tail. Farther ncfrth, where the 

 continuous forest of spruce and fir a fib ids it an immense range, it still 

 occurs in great abundance. 



Unfortunately, I have seen no specimens from Pennsylvania, nor from 

 the southern Alleghany Mountains. Mr. Thaddeus Surber writes me 

 that it still occurs in the heavy hemlock and spruce forests of some of 

 the higher mountains near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. 



Lepus americanus virginianus varies but little in the large area it occu- 

 pies. Specimens from New Brunswick are exactly like those from Mas- 

 sachusetts, and some of the most extreme and richly colored examples 1 

 have seen came from Mt. Forest, Ontario, and Lake Edward, Quebec. 

 This is easily accounted for by the animal's peculiar requirements and 



