THE MUSEUM. 



26c„ 



Parnassius smintheus. 



The Little Chief Hare or Rocky 

 Mountain Pika, {Lagoinys prince ps,) 

 was described by Dr. Richardson in 

 1829 (Fauna Boreali-Americana), from 

 a; specimen collected near the south 

 branch of the Mackenzie, considerably 

 north of the United States boundary. 

 It ranges southward along the summits 

 of the Rocky Mountains, increasing its 

 altitude with decrease in latitude. In 

 Colorado it is never found below tim- 

 ber line. Only one species was rec- 

 ognized in the United States prior to 

 1889, when Dr. C. Hart Merriam de- 

 scribed another species from the Sier- 

 ra Nevada mountains in California, 

 (North American Fauna No, 2). Dr. 

 J. A. Allen gives generic and specific 

 descriptions of Lagoinys princeps, 

 (Monographs of North American Ro- 

 dentia, 1877). They range much in 

 size and color, irrespective of age, sex, 

 season or locality. Above they are 



grayish-brown, varied with black and 

 yellowish-brown; sides yellowish- 

 brown; below grayish, more or less 

 strongly tinged with pale yellowish- 

 brown. They are nearly tailless, 

 have five toes in front and four be- 

 hind, armed with short, arched, com- 

 pressed nails, with a prominent, naked 

 pad at the base of each toe. They 

 range in length from 6. 5 inches to 8 

 inches, averaging about 7. Ears large, 

 broad, rounded. Whiskers numerous 

 and long (i in. to 2.5 in.) They are 

 found very abundant in many places in 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



Concerning the habits of the ani- 

 mal Dr. Allen says (Op. cit.), "Their 

 habits seem everywhere much the 

 same. The animals are everywhere 

 found in communities, living among 

 the loose rocks from a little below 

 timber-line nearly up to the snow-line. 

 They appear to rarely wandtr from 



