610 



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



The species I here describe appears to be restricted to the coast of California, as, of the 

 numerous small hares in the collection before me, from Texas and New Mexico, all belong to 

 another species. It is possible that, in referring to Lepus bachmani as abundant in Texas, 

 Audubon and Bachman had this other species in view, which I have considered the same with 

 L. artemisia. 



List of specimens. 



LEPUS TROWBRIDGII, Baird. 



Lepus trowbritlgii, BAIRD, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, April 1855, 333. 



Sp. CH. Size small, less that of L. auduboni. Head small. Ears about equal to it in length. Tail very short, almost 

 rudimentary ; hind feet very short, well furred, considerably shorter than the head. Color above, yellowish brown and dark 

 brown, beneath, plumbeous gray. Sides not conspicuously different from the back, but paler. Back of neck pale rusty. Ears 

 grayish and black on the external band ; ashy gray elsewhere, with little indication of darker margin or tip. 



No. 310. Size considerably smaller than L. sylvaticus. Head small, orbit small. Ears about 

 as long as the head. Tail very short, almost rudimentary. Hind feet very short, densely 

 furred. Fur of moderate length, softer than in L. sylvaticus. 



The upper parts generally are yellowish brown, paler than in L. sylvaticus, mixed with dark 

 brown (not black). The sides, with the throat and chest, are paler, not conspicuously different 

 from the back. The prevailing tint of the under parts is ashy, mixed with lead color and gray, 

 the former predominating ; the under part of the head ashy gray. The sides and the tip of the 

 snout are ashy. The nape and back of the neck are light rufous; a very slight tinge of the 

 same on the legs and upper surface of the hind feet, which are whitish. The ears are quite 

 plainly colored. On their dorsal surface they are rusty at the extreme base, then ashy ; the 

 external bands mixed gray yellowish, red, and brown, the prevailing tint, however, grayer than 

 on the back. There is very little, if any, indication of a duskier margin anteriorly, where the 

 fringe is grayish. On the concavity of the ear the hairs generally are grayish ; somewhat 

 variegated on the internal band. 



The fur is everywhere lead color or dark ash at the base ; on the back generally it shades into 

 a kind of chestnut brown ; it is then yellow brown and slightly tipped with brown. The sub- 

 terminal dark ring is thus a chestnut brown, not black as in L. audtiboni, and has a lighter 

 shade of the same between it and the ash color. On the sides the arrangement is somewhat 



