690 U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



LEPUS CALLOTIS, Wagler. 



Jackass Rabbit; Texas Ilare. 



Lepus callvtis, WAGLER, Nat. Syst. Amph. 1830, 25. IB. Isis, 1831, 511. 



WACNKB. in Scbrebcr Siiugt. IV ; pi. ccxxxiii, E. (original figure.) IB. Suppl. Schrcb. IV, 1844, 106. 



WATERHOCSB, Nat. Hist. Mamm. II, 1848, 138. 



ATJD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. II, 1851, 95 ; pi. Ixiii. 



GIKBKL, Saugt. 1845, 449. 

 Lepus niyricaudatm, BENNETT, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. I, 1833, 41. 



BACHMAN, J. A. N. S. Phil. VIII, i, 1839, 84. 

 ? Lepus flavigularis, WAGNER, Suppl. Scbreb, IV, 1844, 106. 

 ? Lepus texianus, WATBRHOFSE, N. H. Mamm. II, 1848, 136, probably not of Aud. & Bacb. 



Sr. Cii. Rather smaller than the European hare. Ears very long and broad ; nearly one- third longer than the head and 

 one-fifth longer than the hind foot. Hair on the buttocks short and close. Color above, yellowish gray, blotched and 

 lined with black. Upper surface of tail and central line of rump, black ; tail beneath, grayish white. Sides of rump, clear 

 ash gray. Legs, ashy. Nape, black, (sometimes whitish ?) Beneath, dull whitish, with a yellowish brown color on the 

 throat. A light ring round the eye. Tip of the posterior surface of the ear black. 



In a considerable number of specimens before me of the. Lepus callotis, I find appreciable 

 differences in color, length and texture of fur, and size of the ears, which, however, pass from 

 one extreme to another by such gradual stages as to leave very little base for subdivision into 

 species. In what may perhaps be considered as a typical specimen, (299,) the ears are nearly 

 one-third longer than the head, and at least one-fifth longer than the hind feet. The tail is 

 more than half the length of the ear. The prevailing color above is a yellowish gray, lined and 

 waved with black in irregular amount of aggregation ; the two colors quite distinct. The upper 

 part of the tail (all visible from above) is black to the bases of the hairs ; this extending up the 

 rump for full the length of the tail, and separating on either side a patch covering the rump and 

 thighs of a whitish ash color, finely lined with black, and in strong contrast to the more yellowish 

 fur anterior to it, which is strongly blotched with black. The nape is sooty black. The 

 under parts of body are white, the collar on the tbroat alone of a pale dirty brownish yellow ; 

 the under part of the tail is grayish white. The long hairs on the anterior margin of the ears 

 are brownish white ; the posterior margin of the ear pure white ; the back of the ear is dirty 

 brownish white ; posterior face and margin of the tip of the ear are black. 



Nos. 134 and 252 agree in the black nape. In all the others the nape is grayish white, with 

 a brownish line down the centre. In some specimens there is a dusky tinge in the white. In 

 some specimens there is a very distinct yellowish white ring round the eye. Sometimes the 

 light color of the internal surface of the ear is a pure white in strong contrast with the terminal 

 black. The yellowish gray of the upper parts is sometimes rather more of a buff; never as 

 much as in the L. californicus, however. 



In specimens from the Llano Estacado the fur is much fuller and longer. I can, however, 

 appreciate no other difference. The fringe of the ear is very long. 



Several specimens collected by Dr. Suckley at Fort Boise, on Snake Elver, Oregon, agree in 

 general characters, though differing in some respects. In one the fur is very thin and 

 scant, being probably the old summer fur. The gray of the back is quite pure. The black of 

 the tail and rump very broad and distinct. The color of the nape cannot be made out. The 

 ears are as described ; the black at the tip behind about an inch long. The under parts are 

 of a smoky white ; of the tail rather more brownish. 



