LEPORIDAS—LEPUS AMERICANUS. 305 
strong brownish-red apically. Hairs white for about the terminal third, then 
brownish-red, with the basal third plumbeous. In specimens from rather 
southern localities, the brown often shows through the white outer surface, 
particularly on the sides of the body. 
_ In summer, above and outer surface of the limbs pale yellowish-brown, 
varied with black, resulting in a general tint of dark umber-brown. Tail 
sooty above, grayish-white below. Lower surface of the body, from the 
breast posteriorly, white; breast, and neck in front, yellowish-brown; chin 
and throat white. Anterior surface of ears yellowish-brown, mixed with 
black ; apical fourth of the anterior border black ; posterior border white or 
yellowish-white. _Under-fur of the dorsal region plumbeous for the basal 
half, shading gradually into pale yellowish-brown. Hairs generally broadly 
tipped with black, the black tip succeeded by a broad bar of pale brown; 
below this to the roots black, shading more or less into plumbeous. 
Length of body, 15 to 20 inches; length of ear about 3 inches; of 
tarsus about 5.25. Ear about three-fourths the length of the head; head 
about four-fifths the length of the tarsus. Average weight about 55 pounds. 
In winter specimens, the whiteness of the surface invades the pelage 
much more deeply than in var. virginianus, wholly concealing the subjacent 
brownish zone, the ears and the upper surface of the head being also pure 
white. The pelage is also much thicker and longer, and the ears are far more 
heavily clothed. 'The brown zone of the under-fur varies in different speci- 
mens from light fulvous-brown to deep reddish-brown. 
Summer specimens vary chiefly in respect to the intensity of the yellow- 
ish-brown tiut intermixed with the black, which ranges from yellowish-gray to 
pale rufous. The relative length of the black tips to the hairs of the dorsal 
surface also varies the general tint, which is often of a very dark umber- 
brown, quite different from the bright-cinnamon tint of summer specimens 
of var. virginianus. 
Among the specimens of var. americanus is a single example of melanism, 
a mutilated skin (No. 6268) labeled as follows: .‘‘ Lepus americanus, Rainy 
Lake, H. B. T.” It is apparently a winter skin, the pelage being very long 
and full. The color is dull plumbeous-black throughout, there being a slight 
grayish cast to the surface of the pelage, particularly on the head, breast, and 
back. Although instances of melanism appear to be comparatively frequent 
in Lepus europaeus, they are very rare among the American Leporide. 
20 M 
