LBPORIDiE— LEPU8 8YLVATICUS. 



327 



his L. americanus is not found in such jtlaccs, but inhabits thick woods. Ho 

 Bays particularly that "on the barren grounds to the eastward of tiie Copper- 

 mine, and on the extensive plains or prairies through which tlie Missouri and 

 Saskatchewan flow, it is replaced by other and larger species" — respectively 

 his L. glacutlis and L. virginianus. Furthermore, his description of the 

 summer pelage of his L. americanus corresponds perfectly with the specimens 

 in the Smithsonian Institution from the Red River district northward to the 

 Yukon. Several points in his description of L. virginianus, aside from its 

 size, as the color of the under fur of the back, are wholly inapplicable to the 

 L. americanus, but strictly accord with the characters of the Townsend's 

 Hares.* 



The differences, as already noticed, between the northern and southern 

 forms of L. americanus are quite appreciable, and, in giving them varietal 

 designations, it becomes necessary to restrict the name at^ericanus to the 

 northern form, the earlier descriptions of americanus being based solely on 

 specimens from Hudson's Bay, while Harlan's name of virginianus is alone 

 applicable to the southern form, his description being based on Virginian 

 specimens. As already noticed, the Nova Scotia and Red River specimens 

 belong to the northern type, the southern form being mainly if not wholly 

 restricted to the northern parts of the United States east of the Missouri 

 River. 



Lepus waahingtoni was first described by Professor Baird in 1855, and 

 Lfpvs hairdi by Dr. Hayden in 1869, and neither of them have been con- 

 founded with either of the other varieties of Lepus americanus or with any 

 other species. 



LEPUS SYLVATICUS Buchmau. 



Var. 8vi,VATicus. 



Wood Hare; "Or»r Babbit"; "Wood Rabbit." 



Lepiu ncMUi Schrkber, SSnget., iv, 1793, 881 (In part only).— DeKay, New York Zool., i, 1848, 93, pi. xxvii, 



fig. 1.— Waqner, Sappl. SobrebeT'd Siiuget., iv, 1843, 114. 

 SuMlagut naniu Orat, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xx, 1867, 221.— Allen, Ball. Hns. Comp. Zodl., 1, 



1869, 239. 

 Leput amerioaniu Desmarest, Mammalogie, ii, 1822, 351.— Harlan, Faun. Amer., 1825, 193. — Avdubon, 



Birds of Amer., pi. 51.— Fischer, S;nop. Ham., 1839, 376 (in port only).— Bacuhan, Joarn. 



Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vii, 1837, 320, pi. xvi, figs. 3, 4 (ear and foot).— Emmoks, Qnad. Maaa., 



1840, 56.— Tuuhpsun, Nat. Hist. Vermont, 1842, 48. 



* Since the above was written. Professor Baird has conceded tbe inapplicability of the name L. 

 oampaMt to the smaller short-eared Varying Haro of British North America. 



m 



