412 MICHIGAN SURVEY, 1908. 



considerable color variation. In order to understand the significance 

 of this it is necessary to have a general idea of the nature of the sea- 

 sonal color changes of the Varying Hare. These hares have a brown 

 summer coat and in winter a white one; and from this seasonal change 

 or variation is derived the name Varying Hare. The diflference in color 

 is due to a change of pelage which occurs in the spring and fall; as 

 one coat is shed another of a different color, grows and replaces it, 

 proving conclusively that the white color is not due to a bleaching of 

 the summer coat as some have supposed. Unfortunately this subject 

 has not been investigated in Michigan, so that we do not know the ex- 

 act period in spring and fall at which these moults take place. It 

 would be of value and of interest to know how the time of moulting 

 varies in different parts of the State. 



This moulting process has been studied in detail by Allen ('94), from 

 whose paper the following outline of the laws of moulting are taken. 

 The fall moult (1. c. p. 121) begins "with the feet and ears, the sides 

 of the nose and front of the head, which often become radically changed 

 before the body is much affected ; while as regards the body, the change 

 begins first at the base of the tail and extreme posterior part of the 

 back, and at the ventral border of the sides of the body, working thence 

 upward toward the median line of the back and from behind anter- 

 iorly; the crown of the head and a narrow median line over the 

 shoulders and front part of the back being the parts last changed. In 

 the spring the order of change is cxacthj the reverse, the moult begin- 

 ning on the head and along the median line of the anterior half of the 

 dorsal region, extending laterally and gradually to the ventral border 

 of the sides of the body and posteriorly to the rump, and then later to 

 the ears and down the limbs to the feet, which are the parts last af- 

 fected, and which often remain but little changed till the head and body 

 have pretty completely assumed the summer dress." 



The Museum collection, however, contains a specimen of L. american- 

 1IS phaenotus Allen (deternTined by E. W. Nelson) from Houghton, 

 Mich., which shows that the earlv stages of the fall moult mav begin 

 late in October (No. 31806, Oct. '30, collector, W. H. Grant), 'as the 

 nose, ears, legs and lower hind parts of the body, are well advanced 

 with the white pelage. The hind legs are only slightly mottled with 

 fulvous although the upper parts of the fore legs still retain a consider- 

 able amount of this color. The remainder of the body is in the brown 

 or summer pelage. Two April specimens Lepiis annericanus Erx. (deter- 

 mined by E. W. Nelson) from Luzerne, Oscoda, Co., Mich., (No. 31396, 

 31397, collector, J. A. Parmalee) have the white winter coat, and the 

 upper parts of the hind feet more mottled with fulvous than in the 

 Houghton specimen, while the upper parts of the fore feet are much 

 more fulvous. It is hoped that by calling attention to the fragmentary 

 character of our knowledge of the moulting of the Michigan hares others 

 may be induced to secure the spring and fall specimens needed to com- 

 plete the history of this process in northern and southern Michigan. 



With regard to the moulting of the Isle Royale hares, but little is 

 known, but a few observations made by Max M. Peet are of interest. 

 The following notes were made by him September 13, 1905, at Wash- 

 ington Harbor: A large Hare whose ears and the upper part of the 



