39° SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vOL. 45 



1867. Lepits Gray, Ann. ]\Iag. Nat. Hist., xx, 3d sen, p. 222. 

 1900. Lepus Major, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 3d sen, viii, Zool., p. 514, 

 November, 1899. 



Type. — Lcpits fiiiiidiis Linnaeus. 



Geographical Distribution. — The genus Lepus is found throughout 

 nearly every portion of the world except Australia, Madagascar, and 

 South America. 



Diagnosis. — Pelage soft, a patch on throat different in color and 

 texture from surrounding fur, ears as long as or longer than head, 

 tail short but plainly evident. Hind feet long, heavily clothed with 

 hair, claws not conspicuous. Sutures of interparietal obliterated in 

 the adult, postorbital processes large and triangular, with distinct 

 anterior and posterior limbs. Palate short, its least length two and 

 one-half or less times the length of m^, choanse wide, about four 

 times length of m^. Teeth normal as described on page 391. 



Skull (pis. Lxxiv, Lxxv, Lxxx-Lxxxv). — The postorbital proc- 

 esses are large and spreading, usually distinctly triangular, standing 

 out from the side of the head and considerably arched from before 

 backward. 



The sutures of the interpr.rietal are obliterated at an early age, 

 so that in adult life the interparietal is not distinguishable as a 

 separate bone. Apparently the only other genera of the Leporidae 

 in which this condition occurs are Pronolagus and Pentalagus. 



The bony palate is very short, but not relatively so short as it is 

 in Brachylagiis. The horizontal plates of the palate bones form be- 

 tween a fourth and a third of the bony palate. The posterior por- 

 tion of the palate bone, bordering the edge of the maxilla, caudad 

 of the posterior edge of the bony palate, is very slightly developed 

 and scarcely enters into the formation of the roof of the mouth. 



The posterior palatine foramina are of moderate size and located 

 between the palatine plate of the maxilla and the horizontal plate 

 of the palate bone, at the anterior outer angle of the horizontal 

 plate. 



As in Brachylagiis, the choanse are wide in the genus Lepus. 

 The length of the bony palate, taken at a point midway between the 

 median line and the dental alveoli, is decidedly less than the least 

 distance between the vertical plates of the palate bones. 



The incisive foramina are wide ; their greatest width much exceeds 

 the length of the bony palate, measured midway between the median 

 line and the dental alveoli. 



The zygoma is deep, but not thickened. The foot-like extremity 

 of the zygomatic process of the squamosal is shorter in Lepus than 



