360 MR. W. T. BLANFOED OX ilAilMALS [May 3, 



very fine, slightly wavy. Basal half almost hoary ; apical half 

 has 3 equal rings, 2 black and, between them, a pale ruddy one. 

 The shorter woolly piles are hoary, tipt with clear pale brown, 

 and this is only seen in old fur, making the colour above brown. 

 Rump and Jmsd strip above of tail blue " [the italics are mine], " all 

 the piles being wholly of that hue (pale slaty) ; rest of tail rufes- 

 cent white, all below more or less tinted rufous, palest and white 

 almost under head and mid-belly and buttocks [a few words here 

 are confused and doubtful] ; outside limbs the ruddy tint clearer 

 and deeper and on front of neck, but no black -tipt hairs. Paws 

 darker ruddy. Head above darkest, most of hairy piles [sentence 

 doubtful] of outer surface of ears as turned back colour like head 

 above, of inner surface and nape rufescent white, large black tips 

 to ears, moustaches half black half white." 



Louer down in pencil, also by Hodgson, is a note, referring 

 apparently to yet another specimen. It runs thus : — 



" Another young seems to prove that oiostohis is young of 

 pallipes or this ^ About 14 [inches] from snout to vent" [other 

 skins varied from 19 to 23]. There is a longisb description of which 

 only the following requires quotation : — " As to colour, very little 

 of rufous or of black, above slaty-bkie shaded with hoary, more or 

 less rufescent on body and clearly so on neck, shoulders, and a bit 

 down fore limbs to ends. Buttocks pure slaty, head grey ; of the 

 outsides of ears the exterior half is white from base to tip and the 

 interior darkish grey like head above." 



I cannot see how, with the above evidence, there can be any 

 other conclusion than that the name L. oiostohis was given to an 

 immature specimen or to immature specimens of the species sub- 

 sequently named L.pallipes. That L. oiostohis cannot be, as Biichner 

 supposes, the larger species of the two is manifest from Hodgson's 

 remark on p. 288 of J. A . S. B. vol. xi. He there says that L. oiostolus 

 is not so common in the Central aud Eastern Provinces of Utsaug 

 and Xham as the next and much larger species {L. pallijjes). 



What, then, is the larger Hare identified by Biichner with L. oio- 

 stolus ? In Southern Tibet, at high elevations, there are found two 

 Hares, one large, the other of moderate size — L. hypsibius and 

 L. oiostolus {L. pallipes). It is probable that the two Hares 

 inhabiting similar lofty plateaux in Northern Tibet are identical 

 or closely allied, and the smaller species is identified by Biichner 

 with that found on the Himalayan frontier of the Tibetan high- 

 land. From the description also it is manifest that the Hare 

 identified by Biichner with L. oiostolus resembles L. hypsibius in 

 size, in its very thick woolly fur, and generally in colour ; the only 

 important exception being that the northern form has on the 



• I do not understand what is meant by ' or tbis,' unless Hodgson thought he 

 had included more than one species under L. pallipes. In his Catalogue of 

 Mammals of Nepal, publislied in the Calcutta Journal of Natural History, ii. 

 (1842) p. 220, five new species of Lepus are mentioned, but as only macrotus 

 and diastolus {oiostolus) are specified, the 5 may be one of the numerous mis- 

 prints occurring in the list. 



