280 DR. EliYAR LONNBERG OX HYBRID [Apr. 18, 



upper neck are white, but with the under-fur basally rusty yellow. 

 The colour of the back is due chiefly to the longest hairs, which 

 are dark brown with broad subapical rings of yellowish white. 

 ISTeai-ly covered by these is a stratum of rust-coloured shorter 

 hairs. The general colour of the upper parts of the body becomes 

 through this arrangem^ent greyish 'orown, lighter than the 

 summer coat of Lepus timidus, but less rusty red than that of 

 L. eurojKeits. 



The under-fur is white, and on the sides the winter coat has 

 developed so far that here and there cloudy sjDots of white are 

 visible, and the lower parts of the flanks are clouded by white 

 nearly all over. The shoulders could almost be termed yellowish 

 white, the thighs ashy grey ("blue") with intermixed dark hairs 

 and a slight tinge of rusty. The under parts are white with a 

 yellow stripe bordering the flanks. The fore legs and feet are 

 light rust-coloured as in Lepus eurojyceus, with white spots of the 

 winter coat. The hind legs are as the thighs, only a little lightei-, 

 but the heel has a dark spot like the back. The hind feet are 

 almost white on their upper surface, but some rust-coloured 

 patches are left of the summer coat. The tail is white with a 

 blackish-grey stripe above, better developed than in Lepus timidus 

 but much less so than in L. europceus. 



The chest is light brownish grey v.-ith the white -svinter coat 

 showing through. The belly and inner side of legs are white. 



The white "blue" winter coat is to be regarded as an in- 

 heritance from Lepus timidus, but it is evident that in the 

 summer coat the head, neck, legs, and feet have had a colour that 

 has agreed very well with that of L. europceus. Consequently it 

 appears as if those parts which in summer are most like Lepus 

 europceus in the winter become most like L. timidus, which is a 

 rather interesting fact, 



"When skulls of these two species of Hares are compared with 

 one another, the diflerence in the shape and size of the nasals is 

 most conspicuous. Those of Lepus timichts are broader and 

 shorter and form in the middle a rather bi'oad, flattened area, 

 from which the lateral parts are almost angularly bent and slope 

 down towards the premaxillary. In Z, europa:u,s the upper 

 surface of each nasal is evenly convex, and this results in making 

 the groove between the nasals in the median line deeper than in 

 the former species. The upper and lateral parts are also less 

 defined from each other in this species. The nasals in the hybrid 

 are quite intermediate in shape. The convexity is less pronounced 

 than in Lepus europceus, but the median groove is deeper than in 

 L. timidus, and so on. The greatest width of both nasals is 

 contained fully twice or more in the greatest length of the same 

 bones in L. euro2)ceus, but, as a rule, this is not the case in 

 L. timidus, with which the hybrid agrees in this respect. 



The zygomatic arches of L. tiraidus are more strongly developed 

 and broader than in L. eurojxeus. The shape of the anterior end 



