MAilMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY; 121 



tail, bfeihg hard, dry and jtiicfelessi Bachtnan says they never rfetreatj when 

 pursued, to holeS or biirrows. When snow ife deep its large feet support it so 

 that it can eScapfe dogs as if provided veith ^nofl^shoesj hence one of itfe 

 popular nambs. It does not forage in open fields or country^ hehte is not 

 destructive to crops, however common. They have 2 litters of 4 to 6 each 

 yearly, born in May and July or August. They prefer febnifefous tO decidu- 

 ous woods. 



Description of species. — This animalj like the weasel, turns more or less 

 white in winter. In the transition zone it rarely becomes miifeh white> some 

 individuals changing but slightly from their summer color. The dispute 

 regarding the method by which this color change is accomplished has been 

 often settled, but by no one more conclusively than by Di-. J. A. Allen, in the 

 Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, in which he proves 

 that the summer and winter coats, whatever their colors may be, are acquired, 

 and the color also, by the molt which regularly occurs in spring and fall. 

 The animal has no power to change the color after the new hair begins to 

 grow, but the disposition and physical condition of the animal, the climate in 

 which it lives and other mysterious effects of its environment, determine the 

 amount of white whicK'Shall be acquired in any given place and at any sea- 

 son. Undoubtedly this turning white in winter is primarily intended as a 

 protective measure for the existence of the species during the season of 

 snows, great cold and increased activity of beasts of prey. . 



The Alleghanian hare is larger, and longer by two inches, than the cotton- 

 tail hare of the same regions. Its most distinguishing features are color and 

 the great size of the hind foot. In winter the two are readily separated ; in 

 summer the larger species is bright rusty brown, with ears dusky at the tip 

 and bordered with whitish, while the cottontail is wood-brown or yellowish- 

 brown mixed with black hairs above, and has plain brownish ears. 



Measurements. — Total length, 485 mm. (19) ; tail, 50 (12) j hind foot, 



140 (SJ^)- 



Specimens ixdmined. — From following Pa. Counties : Blair Co., i. Clinton 

 Co., 6. Clearfield Co., 2. Lackawanna Co., 2. Luzerne Co., i; Potter 

 Co., 2. Sullivan Co., 4. Tioga Co., i. 



AUeifhenian Cottontail or Rabbit. Lepus floriddnus transifionans 

 (Bangs). ^ 



1895. Lepus sylvaticus i'rahsiiiondlis Bangs, Procfeedihgs Bofetoh Society 

 Jjatural history, vol. 26, p. 405. 



1899. Lepus floridanus irdfisifiondlis Allfen, Bullfetiii Americah Miiseuih 

 Natural History, vol. 12, p. 13. 



typ'i idcdlify.—\A:i€Ay Hill, ^Iew London Co., Connfecticiit. 



