43 



UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 



59. LEPUS AETEMISIA, Bach man (p. 602.)— Sage Rabbit. 



This species is abundant through Texas and New Mexico. 



315. San Antonio to El Paso. J. H. Clark. — 1417. Matamoras. Lt. D. N. Couch 



** Wherever the thorny clumps of chapparal and the loose sandy soil afford protection to this smallest of rahhits, it may Lo 

 found in great numbers. No matter when or where one of these may be seen, a clump of chapparal or its burrow seem always 

 at hand ; thus it does not travel far, and a few jumps brings it to a place of safety. Notwith^^tanding this, it forms the principal 

 aniaial food of the coyoie. The burrows usually run in o sand hillocks formed around bushes ; sometimes, however, they are 

 dug into the bare compact surface. Bo'h this species and the CaZ/oHs seem to be lean in all localiues, and under all circum- 

 stances, never having seen a specimen of either showing a deposit of fat around the kidney, so common on Ihe L. virginlanu g 

 in fill As an article of food it is superior to the CallotiSj but not equal to the common hare ; and on the lower Rio Grande, a 

 region fertile in game, where it is particula'ly abundant, the people do not think it even worth the knocking ovtr with a stick." 

 (J. H. Clark,) 



60. LEPU3 BACHMANI, Waterhouse (p. 606.)— Bachman's Hare. 

 Specimens of this species were collected at Brownsville^ Texas^ by Lt. Couch and Capt. Van 



Vliet. 



61. DASYPUS NOVEM-CINCTUS, Linnaeus (p. 623.)— Texas Armadillo. 



Sp, Ch. — Tail as long as the body, exclusive of the head. Shell of the back a little wider than long. Eight movable rings 

 in the middle of the shellj and a ninth partly free on the sides. Tail covered with jointed whorls for its basal portion ; the 



terminal third plated but not sheathed. Color b'ackish. Molars 32. 



Description of a young specimen in alcolioL — The head is very mucli rounded at the vertex, 

 but produced into a rather narrow truncated muzzle, the sides of which, viewed from above, 

 are concave ; the upper outline nearly straight from behind the eyes to the tip. The ears are 

 broad, long, obtusely acuminate, and situated entirely on the occiput, their bases in contact. 

 They are barely less than half the length of the head. The eyes are small ; considerably 

 nearer the occiput than the nose. The nostrils are entirely terminal, horizontally crescentic, 

 the concavity superior ; the broad truncated muzzle, with the nostrils separated by a rather 

 "wide septum, resembles very closely that of the hog. 



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The*legs are very strong; the anterior projecting from the body quite as much as the posterior, 

 and of equal thickness. On the fore feet there are four fingers without the slightest rudiment 

 of a thumb ; the toes very short ; scarcely projecting in any of the feet beyond the thickened 

 skin. The two central fore claws are much largest; the inner and outer much smaller and 

 equal ; the former more posterior, not reaching the base of the adjacent claw. The hind claws 

 are rather shorter ; the third longest ; the second and fourtb equal and opposite ; the first and 

 fifth also equal and opposite, and considerably further back. The tail is long, and tapers 

 regularly to an acute tip ; it is as long as the body, exclusive of the bead. 



The entire body is covered with tessellated bony plates; those on the back arranged in sheets, 

 which come low down on the sides, but do not extend on to tbe belly. Of those there is one 

 continuous sheet on the anterior third of the body^ cut out so as to fit round the back of the 

 bead; tbe middle third is occupied by eight half rings, nearly equal to eacb other; and the 

 posterior third iy again covered by a sheet of plates extending to the tail, and fitting down over 

 the rump and thighs. The connexions between these sheets and rings are formed by a skin 

 covered with minute tessellations, and permitting free motion. In addition to the eight rings 

 described, there is a slight indication of a ninth posterior one, which, however, only becomes 



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