LAGOMYID&. 373 
neck and breast, which, like the fore-legs and hinder part of the tarsi, 
are pale rufous brown ; ears externally mouse brown, blackish-brown on 
the posterior portion near the tip, the anterior edges white, with rather 
longer hairs, except near the tip, where the hair is short and black; the 
posterior margins inside pale isabelline, the pale edge becoming broader 
near the tip ; tail black above, white on the sides and below; whiskers 
black near the base, white except in the shorter ones throughout the 
greater part of their length; a pale line from the nose, including the 
eye, continued back nearly to the ear (Blanford’s ‘Eastern Persia,’ 
vol. i. p. 81, with plate). 
SizE.—Head and body, 15 inches; tail, with hair, 4°5 inches ; ear, 
6 inches ; breadth of ear laid flat, 3°25 inches. 
This is a new species, described and named by Mr. W. T. Blanford. 
No. 417. LEPUS HISPIDUS. 
The Hispid Hare. 
Hasitat.—The Terai and low forests at the base of the Himalayas. 
DescripTion.—‘ General colour dark or iron grey, with an embrowned 
ruddy tinge, and the limbs shaded outside, like the body, with black, 
instead of being unmixed rufous” (Hodgson). The inner fur is soft, 
downy, and of an ash colour, the outer longer, hispid, harsh and bristly. 
Some of the hairs ringed black and brown, others are pure black and 
long, the latter more numerous ; ears short and broad. 
S1zE.—Head and body, 193 inches ; tail, with hair, 2} inches; ears, 
2? inches. 
This animal seems to be a link between the hares and the rabbits. 
Like the latter, it burrows, and has more equal limbs; but, according to 
Hodgson, it is not gregarious, but lives in pairs. It would greatly help 
in the identification of its position if some one would procure the young 
or a gravid female, and see whether the young are born blind and naked 
as in the rabbits, or open-eyed and clad with fur as in the hares. Jerdon 
Says it is common at Dacca, and is reported to be found also in the 
Rajmehal hills, and that its flesh is stated to be white, like that of the 
rabbit. 
FAMILY LAGOMYIDA—THE PIKAS, OR MOUSE-HARES. 
One or two premolars above and below; grinding teeth as in Leporide ; 
skull depressed ; .the frontals are contracted, without the wing-like 
processes of the hares ; a single perforation in the facial surface of the 
maxillaries ; a curious ‘prolongation of the posterior angle of the malar 
into a process extending almost to the ear tube, or auditory meatus ; the 
