77 



in winter dress as L. camrgestris^ the first tenable specific 

 name. Shortly afterward, receiving it in summer dress, 

 and being assured that it was not a "varying" hare, he 

 redescribed it as L. townsendii. His subsequent suspi- 

 cion, that his two names applied to the same animal in 

 difierent vestures, as strongly expressed in the later work 

 above quoted, has been amply verified. Since the recti- 

 fied collation of synonymy by Prof. Baird in 1857, we 

 find this well marked, abundant and widely distributed 

 species noticed at greater or less length, and under its 

 proper name, by nearly all the naturalists who have visited 

 the northwestern or western territories, and reported the 

 result of their observations. It may now be considered 

 as a well known and thoroughly established species. 



Its geographical distribution may be given with an un- 

 doubted close approximation to accuracy of detail. In 

 British America, according to our chief if not only au- 

 thority, Sir John Richardson, it has been traced north to 

 55° ; "it is a common animal on the plains through which 

 the north and south branches of the Saskatchewan flow, 

 and which extend as far eastward as the Winepegoosis 

 and southern extremity of Winepeg Lake." Along the 

 northern border of the United States I have myself ob- 

 served it from the beginning of the great plains just west 

 of the Red River of the north, in eastern Dakota, to the 

 base of the Rocky Mountains. It was most abundant in 

 the region of the Upper Missouri and Milk River ; but I 

 have traced it in southeastern Dakota almost to the Iowa 

 border. According to my ol)servations it is the only 

 jackass rabbit of Dakota and Montana. In Kansas, Mr. 

 Allen states, "a few were seen in summer on the plains 

 north of Fort Hays, and in winter from the western bor- 

 der of the state as far east as Bunker Hill Station." In 

 this region they are associated with L. callotis. In Colo- 



