RODENTIA LEPORIDAE LEPUS CALIFORNICUS. 595 



The tail is light cinnamon beneath and on the sides ; ahove, it is black, this color extending 

 up on the rump for several inches. These black hairs become sooty brown towards their bases. 

 The long hairs on the soles and heels are dusky. There is a small white spot on the top of the 

 crown. 



In the preceding account I have given a detailed description of a skin from San Diego, the 

 locality whence Dr. Gray's specimen was obtained. There is no great amount of variation in a 

 large number of specimens before me, from localities extending between the Colorado river and 

 Oregon. An extreme is seen in a very large skin from Petaluma, in which the cinnamon color 

 is everywhere considerably more intense. The basal fur of the back is not so pure white, being 

 strongly tinged with plumbeous. 



The colors of this Petaluma specimen almost exactly resemble those of the European hare, L. 

 timidus. In the latter, however, the belly and tail (excepting the dorsal line of the tail) are 

 white, not cinnamon ; the medial black line of the rump extends much less forward ; the legs 

 are more rufous. The ears are very much smaller and narrower ; the hind feet rather longer ; 

 the fore feet considerably so. 



The variations in this species consist chiefly in the depth of the cinnamon shade, and in the 

 introduction of plumbeous as an element of coloration in the under fur. The more northern 

 specimens are usually the larger. 



