} 



56 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Genus Lepus. Lin. 



Generic characters. Dental system ; incisors | ; canines |E§ 

 molars || ; = 28. Grinders flat, with the plates of enamel trans- 

 verse ; tail short. 



1. Lepus Americanus. Erxl. American Hare. 



Lepus Hudsoriius, Pallas, Glires, p. 30, An, 1778. 



American Hare, Fosttr, Phil. Trans., Ixii. p. 376. Pennant, Arct. Zool., i. 



p. 90. Hearne, Journ., p. 384. Godman, Nat. Hist., ii. p. 157. 

 Lepus Americanus, Sabiiie, Franklin's Journ. p. G64. Richardson, App. 



Parry's 2d Voyage, p. 324, and Fauna Bor. Am., p. 217. Haiiany 



Fauna, p. 192. 



Specific characters. Head, body, and upper side of the tail, 

 brown ; ears shorter than the head, the upper portion bordered in 

 the winter on the outside by a dark brown edge, internally pale, 

 and nearly naked in summer ; tail white beneath. 



Description. The dress of this animal varies but little during 

 the year. Along the back, the brown is darker during the winter, 

 and there is also a greater predominance of black shining hairs ; 

 the general color of the head, rump, and sides, is paler, or a 

 yellowish or grayish-brown ; belly, sides, and thighs, white, with 

 a slight tinge of yellowish ; chin yellowish white, the lower por- 

 tion grayish ; the upper portion of the tail yellowish-brown ; the 

 darker portions of the back arranged somewhat in lines ; ears 

 edged with blackish, but this does not extend to the base at the 

 posterior margin ; fur plumbeous for two thirds of its length, then 

 dull yellowish-brown ; the intermixed coarse hairs are whitish at 

 their roots, then black, and then whitish, or slightly tinged with 

 brown, terminating in a glossy black ; the fur of the belly is 

 plumbeous near the skin, and terminated with white ; general 

 color of the legs yellowish-brown ; mystachial bristles black at 

 base, and terminated usually with brown, in addition to which, 

 there are three or four black, stiff hairs over the eyes ; around the 

 eyes, also, there is a circle of yellowish-white ; nails brownish, 

 nearly straight, five upon the fore, and four upon the hind feet ; 

 incisors white, linear, external surface grooved near the inner mar- 



