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U. S. P. E. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
LEPUS BACHMANI, Waterhouse. 
Bachman’s Hare. 
Lepus bachmani, Waterhouse, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. VI, 1838, 103. 
Bachman, J. A. N. Sc. Phila. VIII, i, 1839, 96. 
Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm. II, 1848, 124. 
Aud. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1853, 35 ; pi. Qviii, (description and plate from Waterhouse’s 
specimen.) 
Sp. Ch. —Size less than that of L. sylvaticus. Ears, tail, and tarsi shorter in proportion. Ears dusky along the anterior 
edge ; above very sparingly clothed with hair. Above yellowish brown mixed with black ; the fur on the posterior half of 
the back lead color at base, then dark sooty brown, yellowish brown, and black, there being only one bar of rusty or 
yellowish brown on the hair; fur everywhere gray at base. Sides and fore feet much paler, and with less brown. Sides of 
rump gray. Back of neck, fore legs, and hind legs in part dull brownish rusty. Under parts dull white. 
This species is somewhat less in size than L. sylvaticus, and seems remarkable for its small 
head and ears compared with the size of the body. The orbit is equally small in its propor¬ 
tions. The ears are a little shorter than the head, and are very scantily furnished with hair. 
That on the external hand is very short and close ; the internal scarcely perceptible, while the 
rest of the two surfaces appear almost naked, although a close examination shows short scattered 
hairs. The fur over the body generally is rather short, especially on the abdomen. The legs, 
too, are scantily furred ; in this respect somewhat like L. palustris. The hair, however, is not 
so stiff anywhere, especially on the feet. The tail is short. 
The general color of the upper parts is a yellowish brown, lined and handed with black. On 
the sides and throat this brownish turns to yellowish gray ; lower down, or along the color of the 
belly, there is a very light rusty tint. The fore legs and the hack of neck, from the occiput to 
between the shoulders, are rusty chestnut; this color extending further than usual down the hack, 
quite broad, and the hairs very short. The color is lighter on the sides of the neck above. The 
neck beneath is colored like the sides ; the belly and under part of the head brownish white; 
the anterior edge of the hind legs dull whitish ; the posterior dull rusty. There is a general 
dark effect on the sides of the head produced by the black hair ; this not arranged so clearly in 
crescentic hands. The edge of the orbits is black, especially above ; around the eye a rather 
distinct circle of rusty whitish. The ears are very plainly colored ; dull yellowish white at the 
base interiorly ; the short scattered hairs blackish ; the external band like the hack, with a 
crowding of black along the anterior margin, and a narrow dusky margin to the superior half 
of the ear, and passing a short distance round to the posterior edge. On the external edge of 
the ear the internal hand is very pale uniform yellowish ; the hairs on the remaining surface, 
with the anterior fringe, grayish white. 
The fur is everywhere lead color at the base ; on the hack it gradually passes into black, then 
yellowish brown, and slightly tipped with black. 
Compared with L. sylvaticxis, the head, feet, tail, and ears are shorter in their proportions. 
The rusty on the hack of the neck and legs is less bright. The ears are much more scantily 
haired. A striking distinction is observable in the fur of the lower part of the back. This is 
lead color at the base, then dark sooty brown to black, then yellowish brown, &c. In 
L. sylvaticus, on the contrary, the lead color passes through pale rusty to brown before reaching 
