156 



len that the animal was formerly rather common, though never abundant, 

 in all the wooded region north of the Ohio, hut is not now found (west of 

 Ohio) south of the forests of northern Wisconsin and southern Michigan. 

 Dr. Rufus Haymond, in Indiana Geological Survey, 1869, gives the Porcu- 

 pine as an inhabitant, " now very rare," of Franklin county, Indiana, 

 adjacent to Butler county, Ohio. 



FAMILY hETORIBM. 



The Hares are a strictly congeneric group, constituting " one of the 

 most natural and best defined groups among mammals." 



Dental formula: i. f:,-; pm. |:|; m. |:|. Molars rootless; hind legs 

 and feet elongated ; ears large and long ; tail erect, bushy, short (some- 

 times rudimentary) ; far usually soft, thick, and loose ; rami of lower jaw 

 large, deep, and flattened ; orbits large ; optic foramina confluent ; palate 

 reduced to a mere bridge between the premolars. The vertebral pro- 

 cesses are long and slender ; acromium process of scapula provided with 

 a spine at right angles to the axis of the scapula. 



Genus Lepus Linnaeus. 



Etymology : Latin, Lepus — a Hare. 



The generic characters are indicated in the description already given 

 of the family. 



Lepus sylvaticus Baehman. 



Var. sylvaticus. 



Wood Hare ; Gray Kabbit ; Wood Rabbit. 



1792. Lepus nanus, Schreber, Sauget., iv, 1792, 881. — DeKay, New York 

 Zool., i, 1842, 93, pi. xxvii. 



1822. Lepus americanus Desmarest, Mamm., ii, 1822, 351. — Harlan, Faun. 

 Amer., 1825, 193. — Audubon, Birds of Am., pi. 51. — Fischer, 

 Synop. Mam., 1829, 376 (in part only). — Baehman, Journ. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci., Phila., vii, 1837, 326, pi. xvi, figs. 3, 4 (ear and foot). 

 — Emmons, Quad. Mass., 1840, 56. — Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ver- 

 mont, 1842, 48. 



1837. Lepus sylvaticus, Baehman, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci , Phila., vii, 1837, 

 403 ; viii, 1839, 78.— Waterhouse, Nat. Hist. Mam., ii, 1848, 116. 

 —And. & Bach., Quad. N. Am., i, 1849, 173, pi. xxii.— Wood- 

 house, Sitgreave's Col. and Zufii River Exp., 1853, 55 (eastern 

 Texas and Indian Terr.). — Maximilian, Weigm. Arch., 1861, 1, 

 144.— Baird, Mam. N. Am., 1857, 597, pi. viii, fig. 1 (skull) ; U. 

 S. and Mex. Bound. Surv., ii, 1859, ii, 47 (Indianola, Texas). — 

 Hayden, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, Phila., xii, 1863, 148,--Abbott, 

 Cook's Geol. of N. J., 1868, 759.— Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat, 



