63 
14 pounds in weight. Though not much systematic collecting has been 
done in northern Baffin island, it is assumed that groenlandicus is not 
present. However, F. D. Henderson, Officer-in-Charge of the Arctic 
Expedition of 1924, reports that a hare taken at Ponds inlet weighed 11 
pounds. Though the weight strongly indicates groenlandicus rather than 
arcticus, probably the animal was an unusually large example of arcticus. 
The southernmost recorded occurrence of groenlandicus is represented by 
a specimen, No. 4902 9 , collected at Dundas harbour, Devon island, 
August 15, 1923 (Canadian Arctic Expedition). Prior to this the species 
was known (See Miller, 1924, p. 455) only from Ellesmere island and the 
northwestern coasts of Greenland, although Nelson (1909, p. 60) provisionally 
maps its distribution as including Devon island, without, however, citing 
any records. It is highly probable that groenlandicus does not come south 
of Lancaster sound, although it is not yet known which hare inhabits Bylot 
island. 
Nelson (1909, p. 60), for his revision of North American rabbits ( loc . 
cit., p. 63), had only a single “young adult” skull with heacl-skin, and a 
young skin from Baffin island, and unable to find any characters by which 
to separate labradorius (type locality Chimo, Quebec) from arcticus (type 
locality cape Bowen, Baffin island) he, therefore, considered the two 
synonymous. Miller (1924, p. 450) adopts this conclusion, lists labradorius 
as a synonym of arcticus, and gives the range of the latter as “Baffin land, 
and probably adjoining islands to the west; extreme north coast of Hudson 
bay and south across Hudson strait to include most of Ungava to Great 
Whale river on the east shore of Hudson bay, and Labrador north to 
Hamilton inlet.” Allen and Copeland (1924, pp. 11-12), after studying 
a series of twelve skulls brought back from southwestern Baffin island by 
the MacMillan expedition, and comparing them with a large series of 
skulls from northeastern Labrador (Pamialuk, Makkovik, Rama, and 
Hopedale), conclude that labradorius is a valid race. This, therefore, 
excludes Lepus arcticus arcticus from the region south of Hudson strait 
and confines it to Baffin island, and, probably, adjoining islands to the 
west, and Melville and Boothia peninsulas. 
Fifty-five skulls of Lepus arcticus were collected in Baffin island. 
17. Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson), barren-ground caribou. 
Eskimo: Tuktoo ; Tuktu, according to Hantzsch. 
This very important animal is widely distributed over Arctic lands 
and is more or less common throughout Baffin island. To the explorer it 
offers, over wide areas, the only means of subsistence and as a general 
source of food is second only to the ringed seal, Phoca hispida , the one 
great and unfailing standby of the Eskimos the year round. Important 
as the caribou is for food, its chief value lies in its skin, which is indispensable 
for clothing for use throughout the long Arctic winter. 
The caribou at any particular season are unevenly distributed over 
the island, being governed in this respect by the occurrence of suitable 
vegetation and other factors. Thus in winter the caribou occur in the 
wind-swept hills and mountainous country of the east coast, but are absent 
from the level plains to the west where the deep, hard snow prevents them 
reaching the scanty vegetation below. Their summer distribution frequent- 
ly seems erratic, as large areas holding numerous mountain valleys with, 
comparatively speaking, abundant vegetation, are often wholly devoid of 
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