THK liAHHlTS AND HARKS. 



533 



pine. Consequently, he has become the slowest, the clumsiest and 

 the most stupid of North American mammals, knowing neither 

 fear nor hurry. Even the task of producing young has been found 

 less necessary than among most species, since the death rate is low. 

 The female gives birth to one or two young each April or INIay, and 

 the male pays no attention to them. One can not help wondering 

 what the courtship of these sluggish and uncouth brutes is like 

 and whether the young are ever active and frolicsome. But I know 

 of no one who has made observations on this point. 



It is in consequence of his over-specialized habits that the por- 

 cupine has disappeared from our fauna. Without destructive habits 

 and having no value for food or fur, he would have survived as 

 long as any forest remained had he exhibited any cunning or 

 adaptability. But his uncouth appearance excited man's desire to 

 kill, and the spiny armature, in Avhose protective powers the crea- 

 ture had absolute reliance, proved wholly inadequate against shot- 

 gun and rifle. 



Family LEPORIDAE. 



RABBITS AND HARES. 



This family, which is of world-wide distribution, belongs to a 

 distinct suborder of rodents {Duplicidentata) distinguished from 

 the rest by the presence of two pairs of upper incisors, the one pair 

 being directly behind the other. There are also a number of other 

 anatomical peculiarities. The wrist can not be turned as in most 

 rodents and the soles of the feet are thickly covered with fur. 

 The hind legs are much longer than the front ones. The ears are 

 long and the tail is short and carried erect. The names "hare" 

 and ''rabbit" are loosely used, the former being generally applied 

 in this country to the larger species, while the smaller ones are 

 everyw^here known as ''rabbits." 



Genus Sylvilagus Gray. 



Sylvilagus Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d Ser., Vol. 20, 

 p. 221, 1867. Lyon, Smith. JMiscel. Coll. (Quart. Issue), Vol. 

 45, p. 396, 1904. 



Dental Formula.— I, f^; C, Pm, f^f; M, = 28. 



Generic characters. — The species of this genus w^ere formerly 

 united with large varying hares, jackass rabbits and others in the 

 genus Lepus. Lyon and other mammalogists have recently re- 

 garded this as a distinct genus because of a number of minor 



