70 



SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



Length of six upper molars taken together 



Do. of palate behind palatine opening 

 Breadth of palate between 3rd pair of molars 

 Length of palatine opening ...... 



Do. of lower jaw from the angle to the anterior alveolar 

 margin ....... 



Height of do. ........ 



Metre. 



Inches. 



•016 



0-62 



•006 



0-25 



•012 



0-48 



•022 



0-88 



•0625 



2-47 



•037 



1-48 



This species inhabits the outer hills of the Thian Shan range north and north-west of 

 Kashghar, and is frequently referred to in Dr. Stoliczka's diary ; it appears to be very abun- 

 dant. 



Lepus stoliczkanus is perhaps allied to L. lehmamii of Severtzoff, 1 the hare of Western 

 Turkestan. The latter, however, is described as having the ears but little longer than the 

 head. 2 The colouration, too, presents several differences, as will be seen from the following 

 description of L. lehmamii : " The colour is just like that of L. timidus, 3 the shoulders and 

 back are yellowish grey brown ; each hair is marked with black and light yellowish-brown 

 rings ; the flanks are lighter, in summer they are yellowish-grey, and ash coloured in winter, 

 the nose, cheeks and tip (? top) of the head are grey ; the nape of the neck is greyish yellow, 

 with soft unicolorous hair ; the throat and breast as far as the front legs are greyish yellow, 

 the hair being brownish yellow with grey tips ; in summer the underfur on the coloured 

 portions of the animal is light brown grey, and in winter grey ; the tail is white with a broad 

 black line on the upper portion ; the belly is white. The ears are greyish white with a wide 

 centre line of the colour of the back on the exterior, and with a narrow black edge on the 

 terminal half of the ear." 



The colour of the neck in L. stoliczkanus is pale rufous, not greyish yellow, and the 

 ears are very light brown, not greyish white ; besides several other differences. 



The other hares hitherto described from Central Asia, besides Hodgson's two species 

 already mentioned, L. oiostolus and L. pallipes, are L. timidus, L., {L. variabilis, Pal.) and 

 L. tolai, both of which are found, according to Pallas, (Zoog. E-os. As. I., p. 149,) in the 

 Trans-Baikal region and the deserts of Mongolia ; and L. hybridus(?) from the Altai mountains. 

 We have as yet no satisfactory information as to the hare or hares found in Afghanistan and 

 Northern Persia. 



No species is enumerated amongst the animals brought from Eastern Tibet by Pere 

 David, and described by M.M. Milne-Edwards, 4 whilst the only form observed by the same 

 traveller in Northern China was L. tolai (Nouvelles Arch, du Mus., 1867, Vol. Ill, Bulletin, 

 p. 27). Further to the north-east a hare was found by Pladde and described as L. mand- 

 shuricus, 5 and from Eastern or South-Eastern China another form is known, L. sinensis 6 . In 

 the ' List of the specimens of mammalia in the British Museum' (1843), p. 126, a Lepus altaicus, 



1 Turk. Jev, p. 83 ; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Aug. 1876, Ser. 4, Vol. xviii, p. 169. 



2 In the original description of L. stoliczkanus I stated that the ears in L. lehmamii were the same length as the head. In 

 the complete translation of Severtzoff's descriptions subsequently published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 1. c., the 

 ears are said to be " longer than the head : if bent forward along the side of the head, they extend beyond it about 6 — 7 lines." The 

 dimensions of the ears in the dried specimens of L. stoliczkanus show that the difference in length in this species would be much 

 greater. 



3 That is the L. europwus of Pallas, L. timidus of some modern authors, not of Linnasus. The true L. timidus of Linnaeus 

 is, of course, L. variabilis of Pallas. 



4 Nouv. Arch. Mus, 1871, vii, Bull. p. 90. 



6 Eadde, Bull. Acad. St. Pet, 1861, iv, p. 52. 



6 Gray and Hardwicke, Illustrations of Indian Zoology ; see also Blyth, J. A. S. B, 1861, xxx, p. 90. 



