558 HARES FROM MEXICAN BOBBER— MEARNS. vol. xvin. 



mon below ; tail \yliite, with a broad dorsal stripe comiwsed of dusky 

 liairs tipped with, yellow-browii and gray; chest patch yellowish gray; 

 residue of under parts pure white, with the exception of the two small 

 colored patches usually preseut in rabbits, at the sides of the abdomen 

 in front of the hind limbs, which patches are j)ale cinnamon. 



Dimensions. — Average measurements of 14 adult males : Total length, 

 345 mm.; tail vertebr;ie, 50.2; ear from crown, 81.2; ear from notch, 65.8; 

 length of hind foot, 83.4; length of liead (nose to occiput), 70.9. Aver- 

 age of 16 adult females : Total length, 360 mm. ; tail vertebrte, 52.8; ear 

 from crown, 80; ear from notch, 64.3; hind foot, 83.7; head, 70.5. 



Typc.—Eo. tiUi^ U.S.N'.M. (Coll. International Boundary Commis- 

 sion). Adult male, from El Pago, Texas. Collected February 6, 1892, 

 by Mearns and Holzner. (Original number, 1418.) 



General remarJcs. — This small, short-eared, pallid race of the Lepns 

 arlzonw has been hitherto confused with L. s. hachmatii and L. s. nuttalli. 

 Quite recently,' however, Dr. J. A. Allen correctly referred a specimen 

 to the species L. arizonce. Comparing a series of specimens of this race 

 from the type locality (El Paso, Texas) with a series of L. arizonw major 

 taken in central Arizona dnring the same month (February), the latter 

 are seen to be darker and browner, as well as larger, with relatively 

 larger ears. 



The subspecies minor also differs from L. arizomc (tjqiica) in having 

 the rostral portion of the skull more elongated, the mandible consider- 

 ably higher and stouter, and the audital bulhe larger. 



LEPUS MERRIAMI, Mearns. 

 RIO GKANDE JACKRABBIT. 



Lepus texlanus, Audubon and Bachman, N. Am. Quad., Ill, 1853, p. 156, pi. 



CXXXIII (Texas). 

 Lepiis caUotis, Baird, U. S. ami Mex. Bd. Surv., 1859, pp. 45,46 (in part; as to 



Nos. 131, 252, 299, and 300).— Baiud, Mam. N. Am., 1857, p. 590 (in part; as 



to Nos. 299,134, and 252).— Allen, N. Am. Rodentia, 1877, p. 350 ("Yar. cal- 



lotis;^' in part). 

 Lejjus merriami, Meauns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, 1890, No. 1103, advance 



sheet, May 25, 1896, p. 2. 



Similar to Lq)HS eaUotis of Mexico, but with shorter ears, which are 

 tipped with black instead of white; with upper surface of body inclin- 

 ing to grayish fawn color rather than ochraceous buff. I have already 

 briefly described this species, on a page of this volume, but think it 

 desirable, in the present connection, to give a fuller description of it. 



Geographic distrihniion. — The range of Lepus merriami extends along 

 the lower Gulf coast of Texas to the mouth of the Kio Grande, and up 

 that stream as far as the mouth of the Devil's Eiver, near which point — 

 about Del Eio — the writer found it extremely abundant. 



Description of ti/pe.—Abova grayish fawn color, mixed with black; 

 underfur whitish; nape, and base and tip of ears, posteriorly, jet black; 



iBull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York, V, p. 28, 1893. 



