740 PROClSEDiNGS OF THE NATIONAL MVSEVM. vol. xxviii. 



youno- In utero nearly mature, eacli 5^ indies long, and of a dark 

 o-ra}' color. In the uterus of one killed at Igloolik on June !^, .six 

 young- were found, not (juite so far advanced. One taken l)y Ross 

 himself on June 28, a few days after birth, became sufficiently tame 

 to eat from the hand but it died fifteen months later. He remarks 

 that the polar hare exists even in the most desolate sections of the 

 arctic regions, and that, too, throughout the long winter; nor does 

 it seek shelter by burrowing in the snow, but is often met with sitting 

 under the lee of a large stone where drifting snow has accumulated 

 and seems to afford some protection from the biting blast. Doctor 

 Armstrong, however, holds that this hare, as well as white foxes, 

 lemnungs, and the very few native birds all burrow in the snow at 

 times during the winter for the sake of warmth. 



NORTHERN VARYING HARE. 



Lejm!^ (tincricdiivs nidcfurlani Merriain. 



Australians used to complain bitterl3^of the great havoc connnittedby 

 the introduced English hare, or rabbit, and at one time the government 

 offered as nuicli as £20,000 for the discovery of a remedy which would 

 have the effect of extirpating the nuisance, or at least considerably 

 reducing the rab])its in number. We of the north then thought that 

 if the latter could ])e inoculated with the virus of the disease which 

 periodically affects the head and throat, and carries off' many thousands 

 of the American hares, when they are most abundant, in eacli decade, 

 it would doubtless be highly appreciated in Australia, while, on the 

 other hand, the natives and others resident in the eastern, western, 

 and northern territories of Canada, would be greatly pleased if the 

 referred-to epidemic would recur in a less fatal form and thereb}" pre- 

 vent the years of scarcit}" frecptentl}' experienced. As already stated 

 in this papei', there are sevei'al fur-bearing animals, notably the lynx 

 and niai'ten, whose numbers would seem to be chieffy dependent upon 

 the abundance or scarcity of this species. The 3'early catch of lynxes 

 rajiidly diminishes in volume as soon as the rabbits become scarce, and 

 w hen the latter are comparatively rare a large proportion of the great, 

 but now dwindling crowd of lynxes suffer privation, and some actually 

 starve to desith. Indians occasionallj' ffnd examples of such victims. 

 Nearly' every post in the Mackenzie River District sent one or more 

 speciuKMis of the Amei-ican hare to the Smithsonian Institution. It is 

 said that it breeds two and three times each season; that the sexes 

 copulate in the end of March, May, and August; that the period of 

 gestation lasts about three weeks, and that the female seldom l)ecomes 

 a nu^ther ])efore she is a year old. A litter usually consists of three 

 oi' four; but when on the "periodic" increase, females are known to 

 have as man}' as six, eight, and even ten at a time, and then gradually 

 return to three and four. The 3'oung are not born blind, nor, so far 



