﻿Proceedings of the Society. 



3 



Mr. Cotton, of the committee, stated he had invited the Institute to 

 visit the Society's museum, and Mr. N. W. Perry, by request, outlined 

 the plans of the committee for the entertainment of the Institute while 

 in the city. 



Donations were received as follows: 



From Smithsonian Institution, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, 

 Nos. 21, 22, 23, Vol. 6; from Am. Society of Microscopists, Buffalo, 

 Proceedings of 6th Annual Meeting 1883, pamphlet on Micrometry; 

 from E. W. Clark, Chief Revenue Marine, Washington, Arctic Cruise of 

 Revenue Steamer Corwin; from Chief Signal Service, Monthly Weather 

 Review, November, L883; from Prof. O. T. Mason, Anthropological 

 Notes for November and December, 1883, and January and February, 

 1884; from E. F. Bliss, 3 specimens of lava from the Azores; from 

 Dr. A. J. Howe, 7 fossil shark's teeth ; from F. Egner, Esq., 3 

 cases of stuffed birds; from the Zoological Garden, Cincinnati, 7 

 species of animals; from Charles Dury, 74 species JV. Am. Coleoptera; 

 from H. C. Stewart, 1 malformed hen's egg. 



Adjourned. 



Tuesday, March 4, 1884. 



SCIENTIFIC MEETING. 



President Hunt in the chair. Fifteen members present. 



Mr. Charles Dury read a paper on "North American Hares.'' 

 Twenty- two species and varieties were named and described, and their 

 peculiarities and geographical distribution commented upon. The real 

 rabbit, Lepvs cuniculus, is not a native of America. The common cot- 

 ton tail or rabbit, Lepus sylvaticus, and its varieties, is a true hare, 

 does not burrow, and lives in a form on the surface of the ground. 



Mr. Dury exhibited a skin of the jackass rabbit, Lepus callotis, 

 taken by himself in New Mexico. L. campestris, the prairie hare, is 

 often mistaken for the jackass rabbit, and is so called in Kansas and 

 Colorado. L. callotis is a Southern species, found in Texas and 

 New Mexico. The flesh of L. callotis is coarse and unpalatable. Mr. 

 Dury measured the tracks of this species, and found that the animal 

 covered twelve feet at a jump. 



The little sage hare, Lepus nuttali, is very good for food, providing 

 the animal b« drawn immediately after being killed. This species 

 feeds on sage brush, and the contents of the intestines and stomach . 

 will flavor the flesh if left in the body after death for even a few hours. 

 The curious habit of the male of L. bairdi was mentioned. The ex- 

 istence of a mammary gland secreting milk to provide for the young, 

 is a wonderful and exceptional fact. 



Remarks were made upon the paper by Messrs. J. F. James, Morgan 

 and Young. 



Prof. Jos. F. James read an abstract of a paper embracing "Notes 

 on some Plants of the Vicinity of Cincinnati," enumerating several 



