LEPORID&—LEPUS AMERICANUS. a2 
while quite accurately describing the animal, confounds it with other species ; 
for, in speaking of its distribution and habits, he quotes not only Kalm’s refer- 
ence to the L. sylvaticus, but also Lawson’s account of the Rabbit of Carolina. 
Erxleben, in 1777, based his L. americanus on Kalm (his reference to the Hare 
of Hudson’s Bay, not the southern Gray Rabbit), Barrington, and Forster, and 
his diagnosis is in every respect applicable to this species, and to this alone. 
Gmelin’s account is abridged from that of Erxleben, he citing the same 
authors. Shaw, and some other later writers, continued to confound it with 
other species, giving as its habitat the whole of North America. Pallas, in 
1778, described it under the name of Lepus hudsonius, and Schreber, in 1792, 
as Lepus nanus. While Schreber's diagnosis refers exclusively to L. ameri- 
canus, he blended its general history with that of LZ. sy/vaticus. Desmarest, 
in 1822, rather increased the confusion already existing by giving a descrip- 
tion referring mainly to LZ. sy/vaticus under the name of Z. americanus. In 
his references, he cites not only Erxleben and Pallas, whose descriptions refer 
exclusively to L. americanus, but also Schoepf, whose description of “ Der 
Nord-Amerikanische Haase” as exclusively refers to L. sylvaticus, while he 
gives its habifat as including not only the region west.of Hudson’s Bay, but 
also the Carolinas, Florida, Louisiana, California, and Mexico. From this 
time, however, till 1842, the name americanus was often applied, even by 
American writers, to the Z. sylvaticus, it bemg thus used by Harlan in 1825, 
and later by Fischer, Audubon, Emmons, Thompson, and others. Harlan 
still further increased the confusion by redescribing the L. americanus under 
the name of L. virginianus, supposing it to be a new species; while Dr. 
Godman, in 1826, considered it as identical with the L. variabilis of Kurope. 
The mistakes of Desmarest and Harlan were repeated even by Dr. Bachman 
in his first paper on the American Hares, published in 1837. In the mean 
time, however, Dr. Richardson (in 1829) had re-instated Erxleben’s name of 
LL. americanus, and Dr. Bachman, in a supplemental note to his paper, recti- 
fied his former error. In 1839, in a second paper on the American Hares, 
Dr. Bachman refers to this species under its proper name; and, in 1849, in 
the first volume of the Quadrupeds of North America, fully elucidates its 
synonymy, giving Erxleben’s description in full. Since the date of Dr. Bach- 
man’s second paper, the species has been generally recognized by its proper 
designation. I find, however, that all the skulls of this species, in the Museum 
of the Smithsonian Institution, from the Hudson’s Bay Territories, are marked 
