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LEPUS AQUATICUS .—Bach. 



Swamp-Hare. 

 PLATE XXXVII.— Male. Natural size. 



L. L. Americani magnitudine ; capite, auribus, caudaque longis ; pedi- 

 bus longis minus pilosis quam in L. sj Ivatico ; supra fuscus ; subtus 

 albus. 



CHARACTERS. 



Size of the Northern hare ; head, ears, and tail, long ; feet, long, less 

 covered with hair than those of the gray rabbit ; general colour, dark gray- 

 ish-brown above, white beneath. 



SYNONYMES. 



Lephs Aqdaticus, Bach., Journal Acad. Nat. So., Philad., vol. vii., p. 2, p. 319, read 



March 21, 1837. 

 Lepos Douglassii, var. I, Gray, Magazine Nat. Hist., London, November, 1837. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The body of this species is large, and formed both for strength and 

 speed ; the hairs do not hang as loosely on the surface as those of the 

 Northern hare, but lie smooth and compact ; the fur is coarser and more 

 glossy than that of the gray rabbit. 



Head, long, and moderately arched ; skull, considerably larger than 

 that of the Northern hare, {L. Americanus) with a larger orbital cavity. 

 The margins of the orbits project so as to produce a visible depression 

 in the anterior part of the frontal bone ; whiskers, half the length of the 

 head ; ears, long, shaped like those of the marsh-hare, clothed externally 

 with a dense coat of very short hairs ; internally, they are partially 

 covered along the margins, but nearer the orifice are nearly naked. 



The feet bear no resemblance to those of the Northern hare or those 

 of the gray rabbit. Instead of being clothed, as in those species, with 

 a compact mass of hair, they are formed like those of the marsh-hare ; 

 the toes, when spread, leaving distinct impressions on the earth. The 



