74 



Description (from various specimens collected by the writer in July and 

 August-, in Montana, lat. 49). 



With the general form of the other large, long-limbed, great-eared 

 hares of the west. Ears, measured from extreme base, decidedly 

 longer than head from nose to occiput. Tail vertebra about as long 

 as ears from their exjreme base longer than height of ear above its 

 notch. Hind foot rather longer than ears or tail, about twice as long 

 as fore foot from the wrist. Tail with its hairs longer than ear or 

 foot. Width of ear, pressed flat, about one-half its height. Soles 

 and palms densely hairy throughout, the pads reaching to the ends of 

 the nails. Whiskers as long as the head, some black, others white. 

 A few black bristles over the eyes, the lower series constituting true 

 eyelashes. Edges of the eyelids naked. Muzzle completely clothed. 

 Ears softly and closely furry both sides, excepting the deeper portions 

 of the concavity, and with a long thin hairy fringe on the anterior 

 folded over edge. General pelage extremely long, loose and fluffy. 



General color of the upper parts pale dull yellowish gray, greatly 

 predominating over a dusky brown with which it is mingled. The 

 bases of the hairs are plumbeous-white, to which succeeds a dusky 

 interval, the yellowish gray furnishing the tip. This predominant 

 tone is pretty uniform, but there is an obscurely darker median dorsal 

 area; while back of the cars, on the sides, hips, buttocks, and in fact 

 all around the general dorsal area, the color lightens, by extinction 

 of the dusky, into a pale plumbeous gray, with a faint yellowish gray 

 tinge. The throat baud is of this latter character, and so are the 

 outer surfaces of the limbs for some distance. Toward the extremi- 

 ties, however, the limbs become more decidedly yellowish brown, 

 slightly toned with dusky. The feet-pads are dirty brown, as if soiled 

 .by continued contact with the ground. The under side of the head, 

 and, indeed, all the under parts excepting the throat baud, are pure 

 cottony white. The tail is pure white, too a strong character of 

 the species the dark dorsal area which obtains in its allies being 

 wholly wanting, or merely indicated by a slight plumbeous line, pro- 

 longed part way down the top of the tail. The croWn of the head 

 agrees with the upper parts in general, but owing to the closeness of 

 the fur, the pattern is finer, and the darker annulations of the hairs 

 gives a heavy ground upon which the yellowish tips of the hairs are 

 more sharply displayed. This darker coronal area is enclosed be- 

 tween light trausocular stripes, not well defined, but still showing 

 plainly by contrast. The eyelids themselves are white. The extreme 

 muzzle and the cheeks for a short distance, are light buffy brown, or 

 pale lawn color, well contrasted against the pure white of the chin. 



