LEPUS 



305 



the long hairs in autumn, but in spring it precedes the hairs ; 

 I am not sure that this is correct. 



There is some, but not conclusive, evidence that the 

 animals which, where the process is not invariable, turn whitest 

 and remain so longest are females, or old individuals of both 

 sexes. It was probably this feature that led William Thompson 

 to conclude of the Irish Hare that it whitens mainly in parks, 

 where, owing to protection, it can grow old, and that the change 

 only becomes conspicuous after the fifth year. Late-born young 

 are slower to moult than adults. 



The spring change is no less variable in date than that of 

 autumn. Even in a country enjoying such a temperate 

 climate as the south of Ireland it may take place at such an 

 unexpectedly late season that it results in the remarkable 

 spectacle of a hare running about in all its conspicuously 

 white arctic livery under the bright rays of a May sun (see 

 Barrett-Hamilton, Proc. Zool. Soc. cit.). It must be remembered 

 that this remark refers to one of the mildest parts of the British 

 Isles ; but resumption of the pigmented pelage is long delayed 

 also in Scotland and in Wales, where the introduced white 

 hares may be seen until the end of April, or even in May. 

 The same facts apply also in other countries. An adult 

 female of L. ghiciganus of Eastern Siberia was still partly in 

 the winter dress on 28th May (Allen, op. cit., 1903, 156), while 

 at Fort Chipewyan, Athabasca, Preble {op. cit., 199) found 

 Lepus americanus retaining a few scattered hairs of the winter 

 pelage late in the same month, and in Finmarken the summer 

 dress is not assumed until July (Collett). On the other hand. 

 Coward [Zoologist, 1901, 74) saw the fur blowing off the 

 imported Blue Hares of the Cheshire hills in March ; and in 

 January 19 10 I examined two male Irish Hares in full moult. 

 To illustrate the uncertainty of the moult, in the same year 

 and on the same ground two heavily whitened Irish does 

 retained their winter coat ; one of them, a fine animal weigh- 

 ing 9 lbs., until killed on the 9th April ; the second was 

 distinguishable by her whiteness well into the month of May. 



According to the above account, winter whitening is 

 essentially the same phenomenon in all species exhibiting it. 

 It varies only in details dependent largely on local conditions. 



