370 On the Northern Hare, 



neighbourhood of Montreal. Those exposed for sale in the mar- 

 ket of that city are, just now, 1st December, changing from the 

 summer to the winter colour, some of them being white and 

 others brown. 



Lepus Americanus. — Erxleben. 



Specific Characters. — Length,ahout 20 inches from the point 

 of the nose to the root of the tail ; colour^ in summer^ reddish- 

 hroiun above, ivhite beneath ; in winter, ivhite ; roots of the hairs, 

 blue, nearer the surface, fawn colour, and the tips white ; ears, a 

 little shorter tluin the head. 



The following is a portion of the long and excellent article, in 

 Audubon and Bachman, on tbe natural histor}'- of this animal. 

 The remainder, consisting of a discussion upon the identity of the 

 species, we shall give in some future number : — 



STNONTMES. 



LiEVRE, (Quenton Malisia.) Sagard Theodat, Canada, p. 747, 1636. 

 Swedish Hare, Kaltn's Travels in North America, vol. ii., p. 45, 1749. 

 Ameuican Hare, Philos. Trans., London, vol. Ixii., pp. 11, 376, 1772. 

 Lepus Americanus, Erxleben, Syst. Regni Aninialis, p. 330, 1777. 



" Nanus, Schreber, vol. ii., p. 881, pi. 234, fig, 



*' HuDsoNius, Pallas, Glires, pp. 1, 30. 

 Varying Hare, Pennant, Arct. Zool., vol. i., p. 95. 

 Lepus Virginianus, Harlan, Fauna, p. 196, 1825. 



" Variabilis, var. Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 164. 

 American Varying Hare, Doughty, Cabinet Nat. Hist., vol. i., p. 217, 



pi. 19. Autumn pelage. 

 The Northern Hare, Audubon, Ornithological Biog., vol. ii., p. 469. 



Birds of America, pi. 181, (in the talons of the Golden Eagle.) 



Winter pelage. 

 Lepus Americanus. Richardson, Fauna Boreali A., p. 217. 



" Virginianus, Bach.., Acad. Nat Sciences, Philadelphia, vol vif.p. 301. 



♦' Americanus, Bach, ib., p. 403, and ib., vol. viii., p. 76. 



« Americanus, Dekay, Nat. Hist. State of New York, p. 95, pi. 26- 



DESCRIPTION. 

 Incisors, pure white, shorter and smaller than in L. glacialis ; 

 upper ones moderately grooved ; the two posterior upper incisors 

 very small. The margins of the orbits project considerably, hav- 

 ing a distinct depression in the frontal bone ; this is more con- 

 spicuous in the old than in the younger animals. Head rather 

 short ; nose blunt ; eyes large and prominent ; ears placed far 

 back, and near each other ; whiskers, long and numerous ; body, 



