1183 



On the Common Hare of the Gangetic Provinces, and of the Suh-Hemalaya ; with 

 a slight notice of a strictly Hemalayan species. By B. H. Hodgson, Esq., 

 Resident at the Court of Nepal, 



^Lepus macrotus et Oiostolus, nobis. j 



It has often been remarked that the ordinary type of the genus Lepus 

 in the Gangetic provinces, differs materially from that of England, and 

 it has been further alleged that the Hare of the Sub-Hemalayan ranges of 

 hills is not similar to that of the plains below them. No one however has, 

 I believe, heretofore been at the pains to verify or refute these allegations, 

 which I therefore now purpose to test, and to show that the former is 

 sound, the latter unsound. I have specimens of the ordinary Hare of the 

 plains and of the hills now before me, and after the most careful compari- 

 son, can discern no difference between them in size, proportions, or even 

 in intensity of hue in the colours, further than as such every where varies 

 with age, health, and seasons. The type therefore of this genus in the 

 mountains and in their subjacent plains (on this side the Ganges at least) is 

 the same ; and of this species, which we shall call Macrotus (from the large 

 size of its ears) the females are, as usual, somewhat larger than the males, 

 being from snout to rump nineteen to twenty inches, with an average 

 weight of 6 lbs. and a maximum of 8 1 to 9, whilst the males fall short 

 by one inch or more of this size, and seldom surpass 5 lbs. in weight. The 

 general structure and proportions are those of Lepus timidus, but the 

 size is much less, the English hare being ordinarily 8 lbs. and frequently 

 reaching 12 lbs. ; and if I may trust my notes, as w^ell as the fresh speci- 

 mens now on the table before me, the females of Macrotus invariably have 

 six teats, of which two are placed on the very top of the thorax, and four 

 remotely from them in a parallelogram in the central part of the abdomi- 

 nal region. This is a noticeable circumstance if the six to ten mammae 

 of authors be ascribed to the genus with sufficient care, and if Timidus, or 

 the European type, may be thence presumed to have ever more than six. 

 If so, the invariably restricted number of mammse in Macrotus will form 

 one feature of specific independency; another will be deduced from its 

 inferior size ; and a third from the greater length of the ears as compared 

 with Timidus, to which, in its general proportions and colours, it certainly 

 bears a close resemblance ; even in colours howe\?er, there is at least one 

 material and constant difference, that whereas the dorsal aspect of the scut 

 or tail in Timidus is black, in Macrotus it is of similar hue with the back, 

 but paler. Nor do I notice in Macrotus any peculiarity of structure in the 

 hair (towards tips enlarged, acuminate, and recurved) such as is ascribed to 



