BULLETIN 



OF. THE 



ZESSIEIX UsTSTITTJTE. 



VOL. 7. SALEM, MASS., MAY, 1875. No. 5. 



One Dollar a Year in Advance. Ten Cents a Single Copy. 



SYNONYMY, DESCRIPTION, HISTORY, DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF 

 THE PRAIRIE HARE (LEPUS CAMPESTRIS). 



BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES^U. S. A. 



Lepus virginianus var.l, HARL., Fn. Amer. 1825, 310 (based entirely on the "Vary- 

 ing Hare of LEWIS and CLARK," infra ; description from these authors). 



Lepus virginianus ["HARL."1, RICH., F. B. A. i, 1829, 224 (Saskatchewan; N. to 

 65. Not of HAHLAN, op. cit. 196, which is L. americanus).~- MAXIM., Reise, i, 1839, 

 508. 



Lepus campestris, BACH., J. A. N. 8. P. vii, pt. ii, 1837, 349; viii, pt. i, 1839, SO (In 

 white pelage). WATERH., N.H.Mamm.ii, 1848, 127. GIEB., Saugeth. 1855, 449. BD., 

 M. N. A. 1857, 585. NEWS., P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 63 (upper California and Oregon). 

 COOP, and SUCKL., N. H. W. T. 1800, pp. 104, 131 (Columbia to the Missouri). HATD., 

 Tr. Am. Phil. Soc. xii, 1862, 148 (upper Missouri). MAXIM, Arch. f. Naturg. xviii, 

 1862, ; Verz. N.- A. Saug. 1862, 193. ALLEN, Bull. Ess. Inst. vi, 1874, pp. 52, 38, 61, 

 66 (Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah), A-MES, Bull. Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 1874, 70 (Minnesota). 



Lepus townsevdii, BACH., J. A. N. 8. P. viii, pt. 1, 1839, 98, pi. 2 (Columbia R., in 

 summer pelage). TOWNS., Narr. 1839, 325. AUD'. and BACH., Q. N. A. i, 1849, 25, pi. 

 3. STEV., U. S. Geol. Stirv. Terr. 1870, 462 (Wyoming). 



Varying Hare, LEWIS and CLARK, ii, 179 (earliest identifiable account). HARL., 

 op. et I. c. (Not of authors generally.) 



Prairie Hare of the Fur Traders. RICH., op. et I. c. 



Jackass Jlabtiit, VULG., in the regions it inhabits. 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN. vii 6 



