Western Eiiroim and North Africa. 151 



never to have published the results of his investigations 

 himself. Blasius (Faun. Deutschl., Saug. p. 412, 1857) 

 mentions all these names as synonyms of L. timidus=L. eiiro- 

 pceusj and brings in another name attributed to Schimper 

 (Regensb. Corresp. 1850, p. Ill), proposed for the hare of 

 Andalucia obtained by Dr. Rosenhauer, but to which no 

 description was added. Fitzinger (Sitzb. d. k. Akad. 

 "VVissensch. 1867, p. 161) adds another name for thePyrenean 

 hare (? sp.) on the authority of Nerde Boub^e, with no refer- 

 ence to any description, but simply as a synonym of 

 L. timidus = L. europceus ; the same author in the same place 

 introduces a name for the hare of Andalucia on the authority 

 of Natterer, also without reference to it ever having 

 been previously published : Natterer certainly was the first 

 author to distinguish this hare from those of Central Europe ; 

 but although he gives a short description (' Isis,' 1818, 

 col. 816), he mentioned no name, and Fitzinger does not 

 notice this reference ; it must therefore be written off as a 

 nomen nudum. One more name for this same hare, though 

 never published, is still in existence in the Vienna Museum ; 

 one or more specimens from Andalucia are, or were, labelle I 

 " Lepus gracilis, Natt." For this last piece of information 

 T am indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, who noted the fact 

 during a visit to that museum in 1877. 



Waterhouse (Mamm. vol. ii. p. 43, 1848) complicated 

 matters by taking a hare from Tunis as typical of L. medi- 

 terraneus, Wagn. ; but no specimen from Sardinia was then 

 in the British Museum for comparison, so the error may 

 readily be excused. 



In this paper a deviation is made from the rule as to takitig 

 measurements ; in all cases the length of the ear is taken 

 from the base at the back, and not from the notch unless 

 particularly stated. Every effort has been made to give as full 

 measurements of the skulls as possible ; but as there is so 

 much individual variation, and the character of the skulls in 

 this group makes it so difficult to know where to fix the points 

 of the compass, owing to the irregularity of the sutures and 

 many apophyses, these measurements must be accepted for 

 what they are worth. Greatest length of nasal bones is taken 

 diagonally on the bone of one side, being far easier than 

 between two parallels, as there are no points in strict longitu- 

 dinal line. The " molar series " is measured by the outsides 

 of the tooth-soc/ce^s, as it is considered more reliable in this 

 group than the teeth, which slope and have no crowns. 



