234 The American Naturalist. [March, 



strong free rib and on the right side a weaker rib but free. The 28th 

 biconvex. 



2. Crocodilus acutus: Two specimens in the Royal museum at 

 Leiden have only 23 presacrals. — E. C. Case. 



The Polar Hares of Eastern North America, with De- 

 scriptions of New Forms.— In 1819 Captain John Ross, in the 

 fourth Appendix of the second (octavo) edition of his " Voyage of Dis- 

 covery " in Baffin's Bay, described a hare which he procured in Baffin 

 Land, in latitude 73° 37'. 



To this animal he gave the name " Lepus arcticus Leach," stating at 

 the end of his description that " Dr. Leach thinks it to be very dis- 

 tinct from the common White Hare of Scotland (Lepus albus Brisson) 

 and equally so from the Lrpu< variabilis, Pallas." Ross then makes a 

 reference to "Appendix No. Y," of the same volume, which he evi- 

 dently supposed would contain Leach's description of the same animal. 

 Leach's chapter on the " New Species of Animals " obtained by Ross, 

 however, does not come in appendix number five but is part of the same 

 appendix in which Ross' description appears. It is on page 170, 

 while Ross' description is on page 151. Leach evidently described 

 the same specimen which Ross had in hand, but gave it the name 

 Lepus glacialis. Owing to its precedence in paging, Dr. J. A. Allen 1 

 rightly adopts the name arcticus for the American Polar Hare, glaci- 

 alis of Leach becoming a synonym. 



The question has been raised by my friend, Mr. Outram Bangs, 

 whether Ross, and not Leach, should have credit for the name arcticus. 

 We may justly infer from Ross' description that he intended that 

 Leach should have this credit and that he published it with such in- 

 tention. He must have consulted with Leach about its relations 

 to the European and Scottish Hares and quotes Leach in his diagno- 

 sis, using, without doubt, the specific name then suggested by Leach. 

 The fact that Leach gave it another name does not affect the status of 

 the one given by Ross, nor weaken Leach's claim to it. From the 

 present custom, not definitely formulated in our American Ornitholo- 

 gist's Union's canons of nomenclature, I see, however, no alternative 

 but to call the Baffin Land Hare, I^epus arcticus Ross. 2 



'Mon. N. Amer. Rod., 1877, p. 288. 



% Some authorities prefer that sole credit for the name of a species be given to the 

 person to whom the original publisher of that name ascribes the origin of the name, 

 writing it in this cu.-e Lepm arctiew Leach. The A. O. IT., with one (or two ?) ex- 

 ceptions, adopts the reverse rule in their check list of birds, and would make it 

 read Lepus arcticus Ross. Neither method does justice either to the public or to 



