LEPORID4—LEPUS TIMIDUS. 293 
nasal bones, which are about as wide anteriorly as posteriorly, while in L. 
americanus they are considerably narrowed anteriorly. While it is about the 
size of L. campestris, it is distinguished from that species by its much shorter 
ears and tail and shorter limbs, its very different color in summer, and in 
the much greater whiteness of its winter coat, the winter pelage of L. cam- 
pestris being brown beneath the surface, with usually a broad grayish-brown 
area on the middle of the back. From all the other American species it is 
too distinct to require comparison with them. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISsTRIBUTION.—The L. ¢imidus (var. timidus) presents 
the rather unusual phenomenon among mammals of being found at isolated 
localities distant from its main range, in accordance with the law of the occur- 
rence of arctic species in alpine regions far to the southward of the southern 
limit of the habitat of the same species in the lowlands; a law, however, 
often illustrated in the distribution of plants, birds, and inseets. The var. 
timidus hence occurs in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, extending as 
far south as Cumberland ; in the Swiss, Bavarian, and Tyrolese Alps; and in 
the Pyrenean and Caucasian Mountains ; in the lower lands in Sweden and 
Norway; throughout Middle and Northern European Russia, Siberia, and 
thence northward to the shores of the Arctic Sea. The var. arcticus occurs 
as far southward as Newfoundland, where it reaches its southern limit of dis- 
tribution on the Atlantic coast. It is found in Labrador, and occurs in the 
interior as far south as Fort Churchill on the western shore of Hudson’s Bay, 
the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, and the Upper Yukon Valley, and 
inhabits the Barren Grounds northward to the Arctic coast. Although 
supposed by Dr. Bachman to occur in Nova Scotia and Northern Maine, I 
can find no evidence that such is the case. Its absence from Nova Scotia, 
on the contrary, is well authenticated. It hence meets, and to some extent 
overlaps, the habitat of LZ. americanus. According to Dr. Richardson and 
other northern explorers, it does not frequent the thick woods, but is often 
seen near the thin clumps of spruce-fir that border the Barren Grounds, the 
LL. americanus being, on the contrary, a woodland species. 
