10 Geo. 5 Provincial Museum Report. P 11 



Genus Neotoma. 



The wood-rats of this genus are confined to North America. The bushy-tailed wood-rats 

 occurring in this Province were separated from the round-tailed species, as the genus Teonoma, 

 by Gray in 1843; although this name has been regarded by most later authors as only of 

 subgeneric rank. 



The bushy-tailed wood-rats are confined chiefly to the boreal zones in the Sierra Nevada and 

 Rocky Mountain regions, extending nearly to north latitude 60. They are chiefly found in the 

 mountains, where they dwell and seek protection among the cliffs and caves, being expert 

 climbers. Occasionally we hear of wood-rats in the vicinity of camps and farm-houses, where 

 they appear to develop a fascination of kleptomania, and ludicrous are the stories told of missing 

 knives, forks, spoons, clothing, and other articles too numerous to mention, carried away and 

 added to the nest material. Four flsmy species occur within our limits, none being known on 

 Vancouver Island. 



Neotoma cinerea (Ord) (Grey Bushy-tailed Rat). Distributed throughout the Rocky 

 Mountain region in Southern British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, and several adjoining States. 



Neotoma cinerea drummondi (Richardson) (Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). Throughout the 

 Canadian zone in the Rocky Mountains of Eastern British Columbia and Western Alberta, 

 north of the range of N. cinerea. 



Neotoma cinerea saxamans (Osgood) (Osgood Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). Geographic dis- 

 tribution in Northern British Columbia, west of. the Rocky Mountains, in the Canadian and 

 Hudsouian zones ; limits of range unknown. 



Neotoma cinerea occidentalis (Cooper, M.C.) Baird (Western Bushy-tailed Wood-rat). 

 From the Pacific Coast region of South-western British Columbia south to Northern California. 



Leporida. 

 Genus Lepus. 



With the exception of Vancouver Island and most of the smaller islands on the Pacific 

 Coast, hares and rabbits are more or less distributed throughout a greater portion of British 

 Columbia. 



Until some ten years ago, when Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the Biological Survey, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, made a revision of the rabbits of North America, very little was 

 known of the number of species and their geographic races. 



From an economic view, hares and rabbits of this genus, when numerous in agricultural 

 areas, do considerable damage to gardens, crops, fruit-trees, and young plantations. A peculiarity 

 also is that when they become very numerous an epidemic in the form of disease decimates them, 

 until hardly any can be found, and this state continues for a few years, when for the next few 

 years they again multiply very fast, and once more attain their zenith of abundance. This takes 

 place about every seven years, and up to the present period the exact cause is little understood. 



The following species are represented in the Province: — 



Lepus campestris townsendi (Baehman) (Western White-tailed Jack-rabbit). It occurs in 

 a narrow tract of land along the Okanagan Valley, terminating at Fairview, also in the 

 Similkameen Valley for twenty miles north of the boundary. 



LepilS amcricanus macfarlani (Merriam) (Mackenzie Varying Hare). Distributed through 

 all the Yukon Territory, Western Mackenzie, and Northern British Columbia ; its extreme 

 northern limit coincides with that of the trees. 



Lepus americanus columbiensis (Rhoads) (B.C. Snow-shoe Rabbit). Ranges through the 

 Rocky Mountain region of South-eastern British Columbia (except the extreme south-eastern 

 corner), and from Vernon, in the Okanagan, to Jasper House, Alberta. 



Lepus Washington! (Baird) (Washington Varying Hare). This hare occurs on the Coast 

 from the Fraser River Valley to the western slope of the Cascade Mountains, at low altitude. 



Lepus bairdi (Haydeu) (Rocky Mountain Snow-shoe Rabbit). Distributed through the 

 higher parts of the Rocky Mountains from Idaho south: a series of skins iu the collection of 

 the Provincial Museum from Cranbrook, B.C., collected by Mr. C. B. Garrett, are referred to in 

 this species. 



Lepus bairdi cascadensis (Nelson) (Cascade Mountain Snow-shoe Rabbit). Ranges from 

 Hope, B.C., on the Fraser River, to the Okanagan, south on the east side of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains into Washington. 



