1895. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 563 



these long-, black, wliite- tipped hairs are scattered along the sides of the 

 body. Sides gray, slightly lined with black, and barely tinged with 

 yellowish brown. Ears with anterior fringes brownish white, posterior 

 fringes pure white, edges of tip black; their convex surfaces brownish 

 gray anteriorly, Avhite i)osteriorly, tipped with black for about .'>() nnn., 

 the black cut oif from most of the anterior border by an upward exten- 

 sion of the gray. Nape grayish white, with an indistinct, median, clay- 

 colored band. Chin and area surrounding orbits, whitish; eyelids 

 black. Whiskers black and white, mostly black, tipped with white. 

 Grown, brownish gray, mixed with black. Sides of head and neck 

 faintly stained with yellowish brown. Gular patch grayish clay color; 

 patches in front of thighs faintly tinged with the same; residue of 

 under parts, and inner surface of limbs, pure white. Tail gray, tinged 

 with brownish below, jet black above, the black extending forward on 

 the rump to a point opposite the anterior border of the sacrum, thus 

 dividing the grayish white area of the i)OSterior parts. Outer sur- 

 face of limbs gray, slightly tinged with clay color; i^ads broccali brown. 



Description of summer coat based on type specimen. — Coat shorter, 

 coarser, and somewhat paler than in winter. It retains the mottled 

 appearance above, and the sides, haunches, and rump are still grayish 

 white, this latter feature serving to distinguish it from the races of 

 Lepiis tcxianus found west of the liocky Mountains. 



Dimensions. — Average measurements of 13 adult males : Total length, 

 559.2 mm.; tail vertebra^, 91.5; ear from crown, 152.8; ear from notch, 

 130.2; length of hind foot, 127; length of head (nose to occiput), 105.1. 

 Average of 8 adult females: Total length, 582.5 mm. ; tail vertebra^, 97; 

 ear from crown, 158.5 ; ear from notch, 129 ; hind foot, 129.9 ; head, 105.5. 



Variations. — The materials before me indicate that this race reaches 

 its extreme differentiation in southwestern Texas and the adjacent 

 States of Mexico. Further north and east it may be expected to inter- 

 grade with L. melanotis, as it certainly does with L. texianus in the west- 

 ern parts of New Mexico and Chihuahua. As we proceeded westward 

 from the Rio Grande, along the boundary line, the characters of this 

 race were very constant until the hilly country west of the Mimbres 

 Valley was reached. From this point to the San Luis Mountains the 

 ears were gradually lengthened, the whiteness of the rump and haunches 

 became obscured by a backward extension of the brownish color of the 

 back, which also deepened on the shoulders and flanks. In the San 

 Luis Mountains of Chihuahua, north of the Sierra Madre, and the 

 Aninuis range, which is an extension of the same range, into the ignited 

 States, a large form of this hare was found which is practically identical 

 with the Lepns texianus. 



Cranial and dental characters. — The cranium is rather wide. Its 

 height varies with the locality — eastern si)ecimens averaging high and 

 western low. The supraorbitals are straight-edged, narrow, and much 

 elevated. Eastern specimens have the nasal bones exceedingly long 



