148 Merriam — J New Cottontail Rabbit from Wyoming. 



white-tailed ground siiuirrel of the southern deserts Amviosper- 

 mo'philus leacurus). 



The new Cottontail, which I take pleasure in naming Lepus 

 baileiji, after my com[)anion, Mr. Vernon Bailey, is a northern 

 rei)resentative of the arizonas series, with which it agrees in the 

 large size of the ears and audital biillfB. It inhabits the Upper 

 Sonoran and Transition Zones and ranges completely across the 

 lower parts of the Owl Creek Mts., which mountains separate the 

 Wind River Basin from the Bighorn Basin. On the north the 

 species follow^ the Bighorn Basin into Montana, and on the east 

 it was last killed l)y us on Crazy Woman Creek, a tributary of 

 Powder River in northeastern Wyoming. Southeast of Powder 

 River it wan afterward obtained at Douglas by Mr. J. Alden 

 Loring. In the Wind River Basin we found it in company 

 with the short-eared Cottontail {Lejnisnuitalli), though the latter 

 seemed to V)e closely confined to the willow thickets along the 

 streams, while the long-eared species Avas found everywhere over 

 the sage and sarcobatus plains and on the open deserts. 



Lepus baileyi sp. nov. Wyoming Cottontail. 



Type from Spring Creek, east side Bighorn Basin, Wj^oming. No. 56016, 

 $ ad., U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Snrvey Coll. Collected Sept. 17, 1893, by 

 C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey. Original No. 4372. 



General characters. — Size large ; coloration pale ; ears and tail very long. 

 Similar in general ajipearance to L. nuttalU, but i)aler, with much longer 

 ears and tail. 



Color. — Upper parts pale pinkish buff, sparingly lined with black hairs ; 

 nuchal jiatch pale fulvous; rump narrowly grayish, lined with black 

 hairs; ears like back, but terminal fourth bordered by black ; outer sides 

 of fore and hind legs pale fulvous; fore and hind feet white or whitish, 

 with basal fur on outer side of feet more or less suffused with i)ale ful- 

 vous ; pectoral collar (broad and fall) and tuft on each side of inguinal 

 region pale buffy fulvous ; under parts white ; tail white, e.xcept a grayish 

 band on dorsal surface. 



Cranial characters. — Skull similar to that of L. arizome, but larger and 

 heavier, with decidedly larger teeth. Contrasted with L. nidtalli of the 

 same region, the skull as a whole is larger; the auditab bullaj very much 

 larger ; the ])ostorbital processes larger, broader, and more produced ante- 

 riorly. 



Measuranents. —Tyi^e specimen: total length, 418; tail vertebrce, 50; 

 hind foot, 100 ; ear from base, 1)4. Average of 8 si)ecimens from the Wind 

 River and Bighorn Basins: total length, 404; tail vertebrae, 55; hind 

 foot, 96. 



