







) Re he 
10 Geo. 5 Proyincran Museum Reporv. 123g {a | 
‘ Genus Neotoma. 
a The wood-rats of this genus are confined to North America. The bushy-tailed wood-rats 
occurring in this Province were separated from the round-tailed species, as the genus Teonoma, 
by Gray in 1843; although this name has been regarded by most later authors as only of 
_ subgeneric rank. 
= The bushy-tailed wood-rats are confined chiefly to the boreal zones in the Sierra Nevada and 
Rocky Mountain regions, extending nearly to north latitude 60, They are chiefly found in the 
mountains, where they dwell and seek protection among the cliffs and caves, being expert 
climbers. Occasionally we hear of wood-rats in the vicinity of camps and farm-houses, where 
they appear to develop a fascination of kleptomania, and ludicrous are the stories told of missing 
knives, forks, spoons, clothing, and other articles too numerous to mention, carried away and 
added to the nest material. Four mew species occur within our limits, none being known on 
Vancouver Island. 
: Neotoma cinerea (Ord) (Grey Bushy-tailed Rat). Distributed throughout the Rocky 
Mountain region in Southern British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, and several adjoining States. 
Neotoma cinerea drummondi (Richardson) (Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). Throughout the 
Canadian zone in the Rocky Mountains of Eastern British Columbia and Western Alberta, 
north of the range of NV. cinerea. 
4 Neotoma cinerea saramans (Osgood) (Osgood Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). Geographic dis- 
tribution in Northern British Columbia, west of the Rocky Mountains, in the Canadian and 
Hudsonian zones; limits of range unknown. 
Neotoma cinerea occidentalis (Cooper, M.C.) Baird (Western Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). 
_ From the Pacific Coast region of South-western British Columbia south to Northern California. 
Leporide. 
Genus Lepus. 
With the exception of Vancouver Island and most of the smaller islands on the Pacific 
Coast, hares and rabbits are more or less distributed throughout a greater portion of British 
Columbia. 
Until some ten years ago, when Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the Biological Survey, United States 
Department of Agriculture, made a revision of the rabbits of North America, very little was 
known of the number of species and their geographic races. 
From an economic view, hares and rabbits of this genus, when numerous in agricultural 
areas, do considerable damage to gardens, crops, fruit-trees, and young plantations. A peculiarity 
also is that when they become very numerous an epidemic in the form of disease decimates them, 
until hardly any can be found, and this state continues for a few years, when for the next few 
years they again multiply very fast, and once more attain their zenith of abundance. This takes 
place about every seven years, and up to the present period the exact cause is little understood. 
The following species are represented in the Province :— 
Lepus campestris townsendi (Bachman) (Western White-tailed Jack-rabbit). It occurs in 
a narrow tract of land along the Okanagan Valley, terminating at Fairview, also in the 
Similkameen Valley for twenty miles north of the boundary. 
| Lepus americanus macfarlani (Merriam) (Mackenzie Varying Hare). Distributed through 
all the Yukon Territory, Western Mackenzie, and Northern British Columbia; its extreme 
northern limit coincides with that of the trees. 
Lepus americanus columbiensis (Rhoads) (B.C. Snow-shoe Rabbit). Ranges through the 
Rocky Mountain region of South-eastern British Columbia (except the extreme south-eastern 
corner), and from Vernon, in the Okanagan, to Jasper House, Alberta. 
Lepus washingtoni (Baird) (Washington Varying Hare). This hare occurs on the Coast 
from the Fraser River Valley to the western slope of the Cascade Mountains, at low altitude. 
Lepus bairdi (Hayden) (Rocky Mountain Snow-shoe Rabbit). Distributed through the 
higher parts of the Rocky Mountains from Idaho south; a series of skins in the collection of 
the Provincial Museum from Cranbrook, B.C., collected by Mr. C. B. Garrett, are referred to in 
this species. 
Lepus bairdi cascadensis (Nelson) (Cascade Mountain Snow-shoe Rabbit). Ranges from 
Hope, B.C., on the Fraser River, to the Okanagan, south on the east side of the Cascade Moun- 
tains into Washington. 




