MAMMALS OF KOETHERE" CANADA 249 



NoETHEEN Vaeting Haee — Lefus americanus macfarlani 



Merriam. 



Australians used'to complain bitterly of the great havoc 

 committed by the introduced English hare, or rabbit, and at 

 one time the Government offered as much as £20,000 sterling 

 for the discovery of a remedy which would have the effect of 

 extirpating the nuisance, or at least considerably reducing the 

 rabbits in number. We of the north then thought that if 

 the latter could be inoculated with the virus of the disease 

 which periodically affects the head and throat and carries 

 off many thousands of the American hares, when they are 

 most abundant in each decade, it would doubtless be highly 

 appreciated in Australia, while, on the other hand, the 

 natives and others resident in the eastern, western, and 

 northern territories of Canada would be greatly pleased if 

 the referred-to epidemic would recur in a less fatal form and 

 theretby prevent the years of scarcity frequently experiencd. 

 As already stated in this paper, there are several fur-'bearing 

 animals, notably the lynx and marten, whose numbers would 

 seem to be chiefly dependent upon the abundance or scarcity 

 of this species. The yearly catch of lynxes rapidly dimin- 

 ishes in volume as soon as the rabbits become scarce, and 

 when the latter are comparatively rare a large proportion 

 of the great, but now dwindling crowd of lynxes, suffer 

 privation, and some actually starve to death. Indians occa- 

 sionally find examples of such victims. Nearly every post 

 in the Mackenzie Eiver District sent one or more specimens 

 of the American hare to the Smithsonian Institution. It is 

 said that it breeds two and three times each season ; that the 

 sexes copulate in the end of March, May, and August ; that 

 the period of gestation lasts aibout three weeks, and that the 

 female seldom becomes a mother before she is a year old. 

 A litter usually consists of three or four ; but when on the 

 "periodic" increase, females are known to have as many 

 as six, eight, and even ten at a time, and then gradually 

 return to three and four. The young are not bom blind. 



