No. i.] Allen on Mexican Mammals. 



Lepus sylvaticus aztecus Allen. 



Five adult and two young specimens of Lepus, belonging to the 

 U.. S. National MXiseum, from Merida, Yucatan, collected by Dr. 

 A. Schott in February and. March, 1865, were formerly referred 

 by me (N. Am. Roden., pp. 365-367) to Lepus aquaticus. Three 

 of these specimens are now before me, and while externally much 

 resembling L. aquaticus, a skull, now for the first time removed 

 from one of the skins for examination, shows that they are not 

 L. aquaticus but referable to my L. sylvaticus aztecus, described on 

 page 1 88 of the present paper, with which these specimens are 

 found to agree in both external and cranial characters. The 

 skins were badly prepared and somewhat overstuffed, and without 

 recourse to the skull might readily be mistaken for L. aquaticus, 

 the coloration being nearly the same, and the feet very scantily 

 furred for a member of the L. sylvaticus group. Other specimens 

 collected at Mirador, by Dr. Schott, and forming part of the same 

 collection, were referred by me to L. sylvaticus, as were specimens 

 from Tehuantepec, collected by Mr. F. Sumichrast (1. c., pp. 330 

 and 336). The latter series included a number of skulls, which 

 served for the ready identification of the Tehuantepec series. 

 Although these specimens are not now accessible for reexamina- 

 tion, I have little doubt of their being referable to" the form here 

 recognized as L. sylvaticus aztecus. A part of the Orizaba speci- 

 mens are referable to the following species : 



Lepus verae-crucis Thomas. 



Lepus vercB-crucis THOMAS, P. Z. S., 1890, p. 74, pi. vii. 



Lepus aquaticus ALLEN, N. Am. Roden., 1877, p. 364 (in part, Orizaba speci- 



mens only). ALSTON, Biol. Centr.-Am., Mam., p. 180 (Dec. 1880), in 



part, or so far as based on the preceding. 



A reexamination of the Orizaba specimens referred by me in 

 1877 (1. c.) to L. aquaticus shows, on removal of the skull from 

 the skin, that they belong to the L. sylvaticus type instead of to 

 L. aquaticus. I have little doubt that they are identical with what 

 Mr. Oldfield Thomas has recently described as Lepus veraz-crucis, 

 based on specimens from Las Vigas, Jalapa, a locality not far 

 from Orizaba. In general size and in external characters it 

 closely resembles my L. insolitus, described above, but the skull 



