980 MR. CLDFIELD THOMAS OX [DeC. 15, 



S. 1735. Oi-flos Desert, N. of Ching-pien, Shen-si. 4900'. 



c?. 1759 (young). Yu-lin-fu, Shen-si. 4000'. 



A pale I'ace of L. simnhoei. 



General colour throughout, of head, body, aiid chest-band, much 

 paler than in true sicinhoei, neeir " pmkish-buff " of Ridgway, 

 instead of the richer colour of sivmhoei, which approaches 

 " ochraceous buif." Sides of rump with a greater tendency to the 

 development of grey patches. Other characters as in true 

 sivinhoei. 



Dimensions of the tjlJe, measured in the flesh : — 



Head and laody 466 mm. ; tail 91 ; hind foot 111 ; ear (from 

 notch) 95. 



Skull — greatest length 86-5 mm. ; basilar length 70. 



Type locality. Southern Ordos Desert. 



Type. Adult male ; B.M. No. 9.1.1.261. Original number 

 1735. Collected 14 April, 1908. 



This Hai-e is a pale Ordos Desert race of L. sicinhoei, which 

 ranges in its normal form from Chefoo and Nanking westwards 

 to Southern Shen-si. It unfortunately happened that the type 

 specimen was darker than has since proved to be usual with 

 Chefoo sj)ecimens, and deceived therefore by the description I 

 gave of it in 1894, before any of Mr. Anderson's specimens had 

 arrived. Prof. Matschie has recently distinguished a Hare from 

 Hing-an-fu, Southern Shen-si, as Lepusfilchneri. His desciiption, 

 however, quite fits Mr. Anderson's topotypical series from Chefoo, 

 arid I think there is no douht L.Jilchner I should be referred to 

 L. sivinhoei. 



I regret that Prof. Matschie should have been led into error by 

 my description of what has since proved to be the abnormal colour 

 of =the typical specimens. 



With regard to his L. stegmanni from Kiau-chow, I would note 

 that a certain proportion of the specimens of L. sidnhoei, other- 

 wise indistinguishable, show the peculiar light speckling of the 

 upper tail-surface which Prof. Matschie uses as a primaiy 

 character. One example from Chefoo shows this very clearly, as 

 does another from Tung-chow, E. of Peking. 



Dr. Satunin has recently * described a number of Hares from 

 Central Asia, but I cannot find any among them similar to this 

 Ordos Hare. I note, however, that his L. kozlovi, from Kam, can 

 hardly escape being the same as L. sechuenensis de Wint.f, almost 

 from the same district, of which he makes no mention. 



" This is the common Hare of China,. Although specimens were 

 taken at only two localities on our long journey, they were seen at 

 all stages. They live generally wherever there is cover. In the 

 Ordos, north-west of Ching-pien, and in the mountains near Ko- 

 lan-chow they were exceedingly abundant. 



" Chinese name, ' Tu-tzi.' " — M. P. A. 



* Ann. Mus. St. PetersL. xi. p. 162, 1906. 

 t !'• Z. S. 1899, p. 576. 



