LEPORIDAI—LEPUS AMERICANUS VAR. VIRGINIANUS. 307 
Maine, belonging to var. virginianus (see Table XIX), is practically nothing, 
being less than five one-hundredths of an inch ! 
A more detailed comparison of var. americanus with var. virginianus, and 
also with vars. bairdi and washingtoni, will be given later, with also gen- 
eral remarks on the synonymy of the several forms. 
Var. VIRGINIANUS. 
Southern Varying Hare 
Similar in size and proportions to var. americanus. Winter pelage with 
the white color of the surface extending less deeply, and the ears, head, and 
feet more or less varied with brown. In summer, more rufous, the color 
being rich reddish-brown or cinnamon-brown, instead of dark umber or 
sepia-brown. Winter pelage worn for a shorter time, and the seasonal change 
of color less complete. 
Winter specimens vary greatly in respect to the depth of the whiteness 
of the upper surface. Some are pure white throughout, except the black 
edging of the tips of the ears, the whiteness extending so deeply as to wholly 
conceal the subjacent zone of brown. In others, the brown is visible through 
the surface, or is exposed by the slightest disarrangement of the pelage, and 
the ears remain more or less brownish, sometimes having but little more 
white than in summer. The upper surface of the head and the feet are also 
often reddish-brown. Occasionally, midwinter specimens are sometimes met 
with in which the colors of the summer pelage still predominate throughout. 
The assumption of the white pelage is not only less complete in var. virgini- 
anus than in var. americanus, but, as previously stated, the change begins 
later, and the winter livery is retained for a much shorter time. In Massa- 
chusetts, New York, and Northern Pennsylvania, the change rarely begins 
before the middle or last of November, and, occupying several weeks, is not 
completed till after the middle of December. In Nova Scotia, according to 
Dr. Gilpin,* specimens in the earliest stages of change are generally not met 
with before the end of November; while, in New Brunswick, according to 
Dr. Welch, the first stages of the change may be detected early in October, 
and by the first week of December the change is there fully completed. In 
the northern districts of the Fur Countries, according to Dr. Richardson,} the 
white winter pelage is assumed in October. At the southward, the winter 
* Proc. and Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Nat. Sci., vol. iil, i, p. 53. 
t Proc. Zoél. Soc. Lond., 1859. 
t Faun. Bor.-Am., i, 218, p. 228. 
