82 



taken in hand, though the third or half grown ones used 

 often to stray about our camps, affording great amusement 

 in the attempts instantly made by "all hands" to catch 

 them. 



I have not been eye-witness of the peculiar habits 

 which doubtless mark the rutting period in this as in other 

 species of the genus, having only been in the regions they 

 inhabit later in the season. The period is over, I think, 

 before June. Males taken during that month and the 

 next are generally poor ; the sexual organs are very ap- 

 parent, as two long, linear masses in the inguinal region. 

 After the care of the young, in July and August, the 

 females are found much emaciated ; and in fact, at no 

 time during the summer, are these hares in good condi- 

 tion for the table. At other seasons the reverse may be 

 considered the case by those who, unlike myself, are fond 

 of rabbit-meat, the flesh, when in proper condition, being 

 light colored, tender and not unpalatable. During the 

 summer both sexes are terribly infested by a kind of tick, 

 which fastens anywhere upon the body, but particularly 

 about the ears, where I have found them almost in clus- 

 ters. This tick appeared to me so different from any of 

 those I had noticed on other rabbits, that I supposed it 

 to be a new species, which I lately named Ixodes leporis- 

 campestris ("Amer. Sportsm.," vol. iv, No. 22, Aug. 29, 

 1874). I regret that when I had the opportunity I did 

 not make the necessary dissections, to see whether, like 

 others of the genus, this species commonly harbors intes- 

 tinal parasites. A tape-worm, Taznia pectinata Goeze 

 (Diesing, Syst. Helminth, i, 498), is very frequent, in 

 Lepus aquaticus. 



According to my experience, this hare is not much es- 

 teemed, either for its food or for its fur, by the whites of 

 the region it inhabits, and it is accordingly not often an 



