296 LEPORID^— LEPUS 



latter either having other affinities, or being, like L. diluvianus 

 of Pictet {TraiU Elimentaire de PaUontologie, 1844, t. i., 207), 

 too imperfectly known for purposes of comparison. Hinton 

 therefore characterised the English pleistocene form of L. 

 timidus as a sub-species, to which he gave the name of " Lepus 

 variabilis anglicus." This hare appears to be the slightly less 

 specialised precursor of our present stock of varying hares, stand- 

 ing in the direct ancestral line of L. hibernicus, and, if so, cannot 

 logically be regarded as a sub-species of its own descendant. 

 The better plan would seem to be to treat it as a species. 



Evidence has recently been forthcoming to show that 

 L. anglicus survived in England until historical times. A 

 tibia from the Roman camp of Corstopitum in Northumberland 

 (see above, p. 259) shows the characters of true Lepus, and has 

 an extreme length of 152.7 mm., and an interarticular length 

 of 146 mm., a size far exceeding that of any species now found 

 in Western Europe, but agreeing closely with that of Hinton's 

 Hare (extreme length, 154.6 mm.). 



The institution of the group Lepus makes it possible to 

 compare the hares of North America with those of the Old 

 World which may be said to correspond roughly in their 

 grouping. Thus L. arcticus and its allies fall naturally within 

 the group true Lepus, while L. callotis and the black-tailed 

 "jack-rabbits," though lacking the black ear-tips, resemble 

 Eulagos in number of mammae, in their long ears, their black 

 tail, and, less closely, in pelage. Further, the genus Sylvilagus, 

 including the New World cottontails, corresponds, as has been 

 shown above, to a certain extent with the Old World 

 Orydolagus. 



On the other hand, L. americanus, the " Snow-shoe Rabbit," 

 and its allies, while agreeing in pelage and number of mammae 

 with true Lepus, stand alone in other respects and cannot 

 be connected with any Old World group ; and a second 

 irreconcilable feature is presented by the white-tailed "jack- 

 rabbits " of the L. campesiris group, which are intermediate 

 between L. americanus and L. callotis. Thus, although the 

 various groups correspond to a certain extent, there are so 

 many points of disagreement that it is not possible, except in 

 the case of L. arcticus, to unite those of the Old and New 



