HARES. 253 



The Arctic Hares of the New and Old World (L. glacialis and L. ■v-ariabilis) are so 

 much alike that there is the greatest difficidty in distinguishing them. But most naturalists 

 consider them distinct ; and I may be allowed to add my holloa to the general voice ; for it is a 

 species which, through the kindness of my Hudson's Bay correspondents, I have had good oppor- 

 tunities of studying. The chief differences lie in the relative proportions of the parts and tinge of the 

 fur. The American species appears never to lose its white livery, at least in the Arctic regions. 

 It is mentioned in the Af)pendix to Sir John Ross's Second Voyage, that a specimen they had 

 cast its winter coat early in May, and was not replaced by the darker hairs of the ordinary summer 

 fur, but retained the piu-e white colour. And Otho Fabricius says that in Greenland it is white 

 except the tips of the ears, both in summer and winter. Of these, of course. Sir John Ross's specimen 

 belonged to the American species, and the indi^-iduals found in Greenland are of the American t}-pe 

 too. Dr. Baird gives the dimensions of a Greenland specimen which he had examined, and which 

 correspond with the proportions of the American species. It may thus be assimied to be correctly 

 recorded as that species ; so that we have here another instance (besides the Reindeer) of the 

 American type of a Polar species being that which occurs in Greenland, in ©imposition to what 

 has been clearly established* to be the case in plants. Further inqmry, however, made " with inten- 

 tion," into the specific characters of Greenland specimens of those Polar animals which occur in 

 both hemisijhercs, such as the Reindeer, the Hare, and the Glutton, is very desii'able. The American 

 species ranges as far north as the Georgian Islands, in lat. 75°. It occurs on both sides of Baffin's 

 'Bay and on the east side of America extends into Labrador and Newfoundland. Dr. Bachman 

 thiuks it even reaches as far south as Nova Scotia. In the interior its southern limit is about 

 62° N. lat.,t and about the line of the M'Kenzie River and Slave Lake it does not come further 

 south than 64° N. lat.J in consequence of the wooded character of the countrj^, as it is never 

 found in woods. 



The other North American species are allotted out to different portions of the territorj' fitted for 

 them. For example, the Prairie Haro (L. campestris) for the j)rairies ; the Sage Hare (L. 

 Artemisia), for the Rocky Mountains, where it feeds upon the Sage or Artemisia, which there covers 

 great tracts of otherwise barren land ; the Swamp Hare (L. aquaticus), for the swamps which border 

 the Mississippi ; and the Marsh Hare (L. pai.ustris), for the less swampy but still wet spots in 

 Carolina, Florida, and i\labama. These two last take readily to the water, swim with ease, and 

 even dive for a short distance ; they feed on the roots of aquatic plants, especially on a species 

 of Iris growing in the water. Their legs are more scantily clothed with hair, thus adapting them 

 better for their dripping mode of life. 



South America has only one species (L. Brasiliensis), which is found scattered over Brazil, 

 and in jiarts of Peru and Boli\aa. In character it comes nearest to the Marsh and Swamp Hare of 

 North America. 



reason why they are, after a time, ca.st oft', to be replaced fur bleached in winter as well as those that have, and con- 

 by new and coloured hairs." Watekhouse's Natural His- sequently an explanation applicable only to one, and that 

 tori/ of the Mammalia, vol. ii. p. 52. 1842. If so, why the smallest number of cases, is not sufficient, 

 is the hair on the tip of the Hare's ears, or Ermine's tail, * Hooker, Dr. .Tos., "Outlines of the Distribution of 

 not white too 1 They are more exposed to the cold than Arctic Plants," in the Linn. Soc. Trans, xsiii. 2.')1. 1861. 

 any other part of the body. As to its being a cause of t Waterhodse, op. cit. ii. 102. 

 the hair being cast, that is a phenomenon of a more % Richardson's " Fauna Bor. Amcr." 221. 1829. 

 general nature occurring in animals that have not their 



