266 Field Museum or Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



which will distinguish it from the Varying Hare, the only one of our 

 species with which it might be confounded. 



Genus SYLVILAGUS Gray. 



Sylvilagus Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat; Hist., 3rd Ser., XX, 1867, p. 221. 



Type Sylvilagus floridanus mallurus (Thomas) . 



Interparietal distinct in adults; supraorbital prominent, but the 

 postorbital process slenderer and more pointed, and more fused to the 

 skull than in Lepus; occasionally the opening or foramen, usually 

 separating the middle portion of the process from the skull, is very 

 small or entirely absent; second to fourth cervical vertebras with 

 dorsal surface flattened and shorter than broad; only one annual molt; 

 does not turn white in winter; also other skeletal differences (described 

 and illustrated by Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 29, 1909, pp. 39-40). 

 Two subgenera are recognized, Sylvilagus and Tapeti. 



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

 I- 1 0-0 2 — 2 3-3 



Subgenus SYLVILAGUS Gray. 



Brain case higher and comparatively broader and whole skull 

 relatively lighter and more slender than in Tapeti; tail and feet more 

 thickly haired; pelage softer. 



Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii (Allen). 

 Mearns's Cotton— tail Rabbit. Gray Rabbit. 



Lepus sylvaticus mearnsii Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., VI, 1894, p. 171 

 (footnote). Elliot, Field Columb. Mus. Pub., Zool., I, 1898, p. 220, (Iowa). 



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

 consin). 



Lepus sylvaticus Kennicott, Agr. Rept. for 1857, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1858, 



P- 77- 

 Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsi Snyder, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, II, 1902, p. 124 

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

 Ih., VIII, 1910, p. 89 (Wisconsin). Hahn, Ann. Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. 

 Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p. 534 (Indiana). Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 

 No. 29, 1909, p. 169 (Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, etc). Howell, Proc Biol. Soc. Wash., XXIII, 1910, 

 p. 32 (Missouri, Illinois). 



Type locality — Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. 



Distribution — From north-central Kentucky, southern Illinois, central 

 Missouri, northeast to Toronto, Canada, and north to northern 

 Wisconsin and central Minnesota, west to Nebraska and Kansas. 



