REMARKS ON THE GENUS LEPUS. 77 
albus.” Our gray rabbit, contrary to the assertion 
of most authors, does not become ivhite in winter, 
in any latitude. “Habitat in America boreali, et. 
fretum Hudsonium copiossimus.” Dr. Richard- 
son, and every northern traveller with whom I have 
conversed, have assured me that our gray rabbit 
does not exist at Hudson’s Bay, where the northern 
and polar hares are the only species to be found. 
The original specimens sent from Hudson’s Bay, 
from which Foster drew up his description in the 
62d volume (p. 276) of the London Philosophical 
Transactions, became eaten up by insects, but have 
been regularly replaced in the British Museum by 
others, which I have examined, as well as the 
original specimens described by Richardson ; they 
are our northern hare, in winter colors, and are all 
marked Lepus americanus. In fact, our little gray 
rabbit is very little known in England or Scotland, 
since, after an examination of all their principal 
museums, I met with but two specimens, much 
mutilated, one of which was not named j the other 
was very properly marked Lepus americanus , Har- 
lan non Erxlebein. The rule of priority to which 
all naturalists are strictly bound to adhere, must 
therefore, preserve for the northern hare the name 
of Lepus americanus , whilst that of L. virginianus 
must stand as a synonym. 
In page 308 of the Journal of the Academy, Yol. 
VII., I stated on the authority of Lewis & Clarke, 
and Drummond and Richardson, that this species 
existed on the shores of the Pacific. I have since 
ascertained that they mistook the species for a very 
different one, which I designated in p. 349 , under 
