Mammals from Central Asia. 229 



drawing in his collection and from a very young example 

 presented by him to the Museum, has evidently curly hairs 

 on the back ; and therefore I doubt whether it is correctly 

 referred to the synonymy of Lepus tibetanus. 



Lepus pamirensis. 



Distinguished by its unusually dense and rather short and 

 stiff fur, which reminds one of that of the wild sheep of the same 

 region : this peculiarity of the fur, however, is limited to the 

 back ; on the haunches and on the sides it is as soft as in other 

 species. Also the front part of the ears is covered with an 

 extraordinarily dense and comparatively long and stiff fur. 

 Back brownish, darkest in the middle ; haunches light grey ; 

 back of the neck and foremost part of the chest rufous. A 

 whitish streak above the eye. Front part of the ear brown, 

 like the back ; apex of the ear blackish below ; both margins 

 of the ear-opening white, but the white fringe of the lower 

 margin is accompanied on the inside of the ear by a dark 

 brown band. Legs white, fore part of the front legs and 

 outer part of the hind legs slightly tinged with yellow- 

 rufous. 



inches. 

 Length from tip of nose to root of tail .... 15 



Length from nose to occiput 3| 



Length of ear 4 



Length of tarsus, including the nails 4| 



A single specimen, stated to be a young male, was obtained 

 on the Pamir in the month of May. 



Lepus yarhandensis. 



Differs from L. tibetanus in lacking the black colour near 

 the apex and margins of the ears, from L. pallipes in being 

 without grey on the haunches, and from both in being of 

 smaller size, and especially in the legs being more slender. 



Fur long, dense, silky, without any tendency to curl. Back 

 of a pale ochre-colour, some of the hairs being black-tipped. 

 The colour of the back passes on the sides gradually into the 

 pure white of the lower parts, the hairs of the abdomen being 

 remarkably long. Chest with a faint reddish tinge, the hairs 

 of this region being of a light slate- colour at the base. Upper 

 part of the head, anterior margin of the ears, and side of the 

 head coloured like the back. A whitish band round the upper 

 part of the orbit, continued for some distance in the direction 

 towards the base of the ear ; a more or less conspicuous whitish 



