LAGOMYIDA—LAGOMYS—LAGOMYS PRINCEPS. 407 
munities, and lay up a store of food for winter use. They sit erect like a 
Marmot, and utter frequently a sharp, shrill, barking cry. They are thus in 
their habits totally unlike the Hares. 
A single species only is found in North America, which is confined to 
the higher parts of the morntains of the western half of the continent. The 
group is more numerously represented in Northern Asia, and is not now 
fuund elsewhere. Three species inhabit the elevated parts of Northern India, 
and three others occur farther northward. None occur west of the Black 
Sea, but they range thence eastward to Kamtschatka. Their habitat hence 
embraces only Western North America and Northern Asia. Formerly they 
extended much farther westward and southward ; their fossil remains having 
been found in the Pliocene strata of England, France, and on the islands of 
Corsica and Sardinia. The species are apparently all referable to the single 
genus Lagomys. The Pikas are a less specialized form than the Hares. 
Grenus LAGOMYS G. Cuvier. 
Lagomys Cuvier, Régne Anim., i, 1817, 219. ; 
Ogotoma Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xx, 1867, 220 (type, Lepus ogotoma, Pallas). 
LAGOMYS PRINCEPS Richardson. 
North American Pika. 
SYNONYMY. 
Lepus (Lagomys) princeps RicHarpson, Zo6l. Journ., 1822, 520; Fauna Bor.-Amer., i, 1829, 227, pl. xix.— 
Fiscuer, Syn. Mam. (add. 1330), 403 [603] (from Richardson). 
Lagomys princeps WAGNER, Supp. Schreber’s Siiuget., iv, 1844, 123, pl. cexxxix a (from Richardson ).— 
WATERHOUSE, Nat. Hist. Mam., ii, 1842, 28.—AupUDON & BacuMAN, North Amer. Quad., ii, 
1851, 244, pl. Ixxxiii (mainly from Richardson).—GIKFBEL, Siiuget., 1855, 455.—Bairp, Mam. 
N. Amer., 1857, 619 (from Waterhouse).—Coorer, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci., iii, 1263, 69; 
ib., 1868, 6 (Sierra Nevada, Cal.).—Gray, Aun. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xx, 1867, 220.— 
Cope, Proce. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1868, 2 (Lower California).—ALLEN, Bull. Essex Institute, 
vi, 1874, 57, 66.—CovuEs & Yarrow, Wheeler’s Exp]. and Sury. west of the 1C0th Merid., v, 
Zol., 1875, 125. 
Lagomys minimus LorD, Proe Zodl. Soc. Lond., 1863, 96.—Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xx, 
1867, 220. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Above grayish-brown, varied with black and yellowish-brown; sides 
yellowish-brown ; below grayish, more or less strongly tinged with pale 
yellowish-brown. 
The color varies greatly in different specimens, irrespective of age, sex, 
season, or locality. The dorsal surface is always more or less varied with 
black, through the prevalence of numerous black-tipped hairs, especially over 
