562 HARES FROM MEXICAN BORDER— MEARNS. vol. xvm. 



of liind foot, 131; leugtli of liead (nose to occiput), 104. Average meas- 

 urements of two adult females: Total length, 567 mm.; tail vertebrae, 

 80; ear from crown, 148; ear from notcli, 127 ; hind foot, 135; head, 100.5. 



Cranial and dental characters. — The skull of this species is high and 

 rather wide. The supraorbital process of the frontal bone is elevated 

 and massive. The nasal bones are long and very wide, especially 

 behind. The rostral portion of the skull is of medium length, the 

 brain case of average cai)acity, and the teeth of the usual size. 



Ty2)e. — Ko. Hlff? U.S.N.M. (Coll. International Boundary Commis- 

 sion). Adult male,' from the west fork of the Playas Valley near monu- 

 ment Ko. 63, Mexican boundary line. Collected June 17, 1892, by Edgar 

 A. Mearns and Frank X. Holzner. 



General remarJxS.— Thin species scarcely requires comparison with any 

 other. It bears a sux)erficial resemblance to L. alleni, from which its 

 diminutive size at once serves to distinguish it. 



LEPUS TEXIANUS GRISEUS, new subspecies. 



EASTERN DESERT JACKRABBIT. 



Lepus call Otis, Baird, Mam. N. Am., 1857, p. 590 (iu part; as to No. 301?); U. S. 

 ami Mex. Bound. Survey, II, II, 1859, p. 46 (in part; as to No. 135, Eagle 

 Pass, Tex.). — Allen, Mou. N. Am. Rodentia, 1877, p. 355 (in part only). 



Geographic disiribution. — This species inhabits the region of the upper 

 Eio Grande, from Maverick and Kinney Counties, in Texas, to Grant 

 County, Kew Mexico, ranging southward in Coahuila and Chihuahua, 

 Mexico. Toward the Sierra Madre and other mountain chains to the 

 northward, which form the backbone of the continent, this race gradu- 

 ally merges into the texianus type of this species. 



Description of adult in ivinter coat. — Size considerably smaller than 

 that of Lepus texianus or L. melanotis, about equal to L. cali/ornicus. 

 Length, measured from nose to end of vertebrae of tail, 560 mm. ; tall 

 vertebra^ 75; height of ear above croAvn, 138; length of hind foot, 122. 

 Color above brownish gray; pelage thickly lined with long, black- 

 tipped hairs, which are most numerous in the median area of the 

 back; color of rump and haunches changing abrui)tly to clear grayish, 

 because the brownish staining of the back is wanting. On the back, 

 wliicli has a mottled appearance, the underfur is gray at base for three- 

 fifths of its length, then ringed with light brown, and pomted with 

 black. The coarse, long hairs are white at base, ringed with black in 

 the middle, subterminally ringed with pale drab gray, and pointed with 

 black. Inspection of the j)arted coat, therefore, shows it to be smoke 

 gray at base, then banded successively with pale brown, black, and 

 drab gray, pointed with black. On the sides of the rump the underfur 

 is pale gray at base and tip, white in the middle. The long coat on this 

 part is composed of two kinds of hair, a dense growth of short hairs 

 which are white to the base, banded and j^ointed with black, and a 

 sparse growth of very long black hairs, tipped with white. Many of 



