360 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON [Nov. 28, 



smoky blackish. Tail black above, very slightly more greyish 

 below. 



Skull as in true hrachyurus. 



Dimensions of the type, measured in the flesh : — 



Head and body 506 mm. ; tail 54; hind foot 138 ; ear 78. 



Type. Adult female. B.M. No. 6.1.4.389. Original number 

 604. Collected 7 July, 1905. 



This Hare affords an instance of the blackening so often found 

 in insular forms. No doubt it is a kind of melanism, but the 

 indications given by three specimens, even though the}^ differ in 

 degree, that the darkening is not spasmodic or individual, renders 

 it necessary to recognise the animal by a subspecific name*. 



II. Yakushima. 



Yakushima was not visited by Mr. Malcolm Anderson, but by 

 his brother, Mr. Robert Y. Anderson, who had been helping him 

 in his collecting work in Kiushiu, Shikoku, and the Oki Islands. 

 The following is an extract from the admirable notes on the 

 island he has given me : — 



" Yakushima lies some forty miles south of the southernmost 

 headland of Kiushiu, a few miles south-west of Tanegashima, and 

 between 30° 15' and 30" 25' N. lat. It is one of the Osumi 

 group of small islands which are the most northerly of the 

 Liu-Kiu curve. It is extremely mountainous in character, the 

 only approximation to the level being along the coast whence a 

 gentle incline slopes to the steep hills a quarter of a mile to a mile 

 away. The island is seen from the sea as a mass of densely- 

 forested high mountains with straight low coast-line, several 

 ridges that inclose basins culminating centrally in Miyanoura- 

 dake at an altitude of more than six thousand five hundred feet. 

 The island is circular, with a diameter of about fifteen miles. 

 The sides of the hills usually slope at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees, except here and there where great cliffs of granite make 

 a break in the forest. 



" The climate is very wet, and the island abounds in streams and 

 mountain-torrents. Light snow sometimes falls, even in summer, 

 on the highest peaks. 



" There are no rabbits or martens in Yakushima, but, according 

 to native reports, weasels are common." — R. V. A. 



Although he heard of them from the natives, Mr. Anderson 

 was not able to obtain any s^Decimens of the Yakushima monkey, 

 weasel, or deer ; but it fortunately happens that a collection of 

 Mammals has just been acquired by the Museum from Mr. Alan 

 Owston, which contains examples of the first and third, besides a 

 weasel from Tanegashima, and I therefore record them here, so 

 as to complete the list of the Mammals known to exist in the 

 island. 



* Mr. Anderson lias since written to me exjiressing his conviction tliat the Old 

 Have is constantlv different from that from Hondo. 



