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Show 1 9 0 5 .] HARES FROM SOUTHERN SWEDEN. 2 7 9 The first Hare I had the pleasure of receiving, and about the hybrid nature of which there cannot be the slightest doubt, was shot the 28th of October, 1904, by His Royal Highness Gustavus Adolphus at Skabersjo in Scania, on the rich and well-kept hunting-grounds of Count Tage Tliott, and immediately sent up to the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, where it is now mounted. It is a female of rather large size, measuring about 60 cm. from the snout to the root of the tail. The length of the head is about 11 cm. The length of the ears, measured from their base on the outer side, but without the hairs at their tips, is 129 mm. (or with the bail's 137 mm.), the length of the hind foot from the heel to the tip of the middle claws is 17 cm., and the length of the tail, not counting the hairs, 87 mm. From these dimensions it may be seen that this Hare does not agree with Lepus timidus or with L. europceus with regard to such measurements that are of value for the distinction of these two species, viz., those of the ears, tail, and hind foot. The first two dimensions are plainly intermediate between the corresponding ones of the species of Hare mentioned above. The maximum length of the ear of Lepus timidus, measured as above, seems to be about 11| to 12 cm., and. the same dimension of L. europceus about 12 cm. The tail of the former without the hairs is about 60 to 72 mm., and of the latter 95 to 105 mm. The hind foot of L. europceus does not seem to exceed 150 mm., at least not much, when measured as above, while that of a full-grown L. timidus usually is from 160 to 165 mm. In this respect this hybrid specimen consequently has attained a larger size than either parental species. A description of the colour of the hybrid reveals the double origin just as plainly as the measurements. It is almost completely still in its summer pelage, but the new winter coat is showing here and there. The nose is rust-coloured above as in L. europceus. The sides of the nose are lighter, partly whitish. The lips are whitish, light greyish in the middle; the chin and throat are white. The sides of the head and the nose are rust-coloured, but somewhat mixed with dark brown hairs. There is a darker vertical spot below the anterior angle of the eye. The anterior and upper vibrisste are black, the lower and posterior white. The hairs of the forehead are dark brown with yellowish-white tips, the combination producing a general yellowish-brown colour. The anterior surface of the ears is quite similar to the forehead, the median surface rust-coloured ; the posterior half and the base have assumed the winter coat and are white ; the tip is margined with black, a 15 mm. broad black band extending about 27 mm. from the tip (including the hairs). The inside of the ear-conch is in the middle whitish, but the more conspicuous marginal parts are rusty yellow. The sides of the occiput from behind the eyes and below the ears rust-coloured mixed with white. The middle of the occiput, from behind the ears, and the |
