JOURNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Description of Caprolagvs, a new Genus of Leporine Mammalia. 

 By E. Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society* s Museum. — With two 

 plates. 



In the 'Bengal Sporting Magazine,' for August 1843, p. 131, Mr. 

 Pearson has described an animal by the name Lepus hispidus, which 

 I have long been very desirous of examining, and have sought to pro- 

 cure by every opportunity that has offered ; and the Society has at 

 length been favored with a fine specimen of it by our esteemed corres- 

 pondent and contributor, Major Jenkins, Political Agent in Assam, 

 to whose kind exertions in procuring this and other desiderata for 

 the Museum, our thanks cannot be too often repeated* 



As I fully expected, this animal has proved to be not satisfactorily 

 admissible into Lepus, as the limits of generic divisions are now cur- 

 rently accepted ; but must be regarded as a third generic type of the 

 Leporina, Waterhouse; or rather, it is a very strongly marked modi- 

 fication of the Lepus subtype, and not so distinct a form (equivalent 

 to Lepus,) as is that of Lagomys. In all its more essential characters 

 it is akin to Lepus, but exhibiting very considerable modification in 

 the various details of its structure. The head is large, the eyes small, 

 the whiskers slight and inconspicuous ; the ears are comparatively very 

 short ; tail the same ; limbs small, and much less unequal than in 

 Lepus ; and the claws are particularly strong, straight, and very sharp- 

 pointed, being obviously of important use in the creature's economy : 

 lastly, the fur is very remarkable for an animal of the Leporine group, 

 on account of its harshness, which is well expressed by the specific 

 appellation hispidus. 



No. 160. No. 76, New Skriks. 2 n 



