53 
LEPUS C ALIFORNICUS.— Gray. 
CALIFORNIAN HARE. 
PLATE CXII. 
L. magnitudine L. glacialis, forma L. timide ; supra flavescente-fuscus, 
subtus albus, flavo valdetinctus. 
CHARACTERS. 
Nearly the size of the polar hare ; dark brown on the back , light brownish- 
red on the neck ; lower parts deeply tinged with yellow. 
SYNONYMES. 
Lepus Californicus. Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, vol. i., new series, p. 58G. 
Richardsonii. Bacli. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. viii. p. 88. 
Ben.nettii. Gray, Zoology of the Voyage of H. M. S. Sulphur, Mamm p 35 
pi. 14, 1843. ’ 
DESCEIPTIOY. 
Head, small, and not elongated ; ears, very large, much longer than the 
head ; eyes, very large ; body, stout ; limbs, long and slender ; fur, of 
moderate length ; tail, long and flat ; feet, rather small ; legs and feet, 
thickly clothed with short hairs nearly concealing the nails. 
COLOUR 
The back, from the shoulder to the insertion of the tail, is strongly 
marked with black and rufous-brown, the hairs being pale plumbeous for 
two thirds of their length from the roots, then very pale brown, then 
black, then yellowish-brown, and tipped with black. Chest, sides of the 
body, and outer surface of limbs, more or less rufous. Abdomen, whitish 
tinged with buff; upper surface of the tail blackish-brown, lower surface 
yellowish-white; around the eye, pale buff; back of the neck, grayish 
cinnamon colour ; legs and feet, cinnamon. The outer surface of the ears 
is longitudinally divided into two colours, the anterior portion or half 
being grizzled reddish-brown, becoming darker as it approaches the tip of 
the ear, the hairs being annulated with black and pale yellow ; the posterior 
