262 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



being entirely separated from the skull but occasionally the posterior 

 end is fused to the skull, leaving an opening or foramen; second to 

 fifth cervical vertebrae longer than broad. This genus contains two 

 North American subgenera, Lepus and Macrotolagus, but only the 

 former is represented within our limits. 



Dental formula: I. ^^, C.^^, Pm. ^^, M.^^=28. 



"^ I-I O-O 2-2 3-3 



Subgenus LEPUS Linn. 

 Lepus americanus phaeonotus Allen. 

 Varying Hare. Snow-shoe Rabbit. 



Lepus americanus phceonotus Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XII, 1899, p. 11. 

 Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, VI, 1908, p. 25 (Wisconsin). lb., VIII, 

 1910, p. 88 (Wisconsin). Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 29, 1909, p. 95 (Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, Michigan, etc.). 



Lepus americanus Kennicott, Agr. Rept. for 1857, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 

 1858, p. 84 (Wisconsin). 



Lepus Americanus Lapham, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, II, 1852 (1853), p. 340 

 (Wisconsin). Strong, Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I- 1883, p. 440 (Wisconsin). 



Type locality — Hallock, Kittson Co., Minnesota. 



Distribution — Northern Wisconsin and the western portion of the 

 Michigan peninsular, northern Minnesota, southern Manitoba and 

 a small portion of western Ontario. 



Description — In summer: Upper parts brown and ochraceous * buff, 

 more or less mixed with dusky and with indications of a blackish 

 line down the middle of the back; upper surface of tail brownish 

 buff or brownish gray mixed with dusky; upper portions of legs 

 tinged with rusty brown; ears narrowly bordered with black, the 

 extreme edge on inner side often whitish; under parts, except 

 throat, white; throat, except extreme upper part and chin, brownish 

 buff; upper portion of hind feet tawny buff. 



In winter: General color pure white, except tips of ears, 

 bordered with black, and often with the front of the ears more or 

 less tinged with brownish buff. In spring and fall it is a parti- 

 colored animal, showing irregular markings of brown and white 

 during the transition period, when the semi-annual molt of pelage 

 and change in color takes place.* 



Measurements — Total length, about 18 in. (460 mm.); tail vertebrae, 



about 1.50 in. (38 mm.); hind foot, 5.25 in. (134 mm.). 



* Dr. J. A. Allen has ably demonstrated that this change of color is due to a 

 new growth of hair each season and not to a change of color in the old pelage (Bull. 

 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., VI, 1897, p. 107). 



