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Show 278 DR. EINAR LONNBERG ON HYBRID [Apr. 18, of which measurements are here given have preserved the external gills,-another instance of the neoteny already observed in Tailed Batrachians living at great altitudes. The altitude of Yunnan fu, where the specimens were obtained, is about 6000 feet. The skull in these branchiferous specimens is fully ossified and has all the features of the mature state. The female is full of ripe spawn. In the structure of the skull and the absence of crest or digital web in the male this new species approaches the Spanish- Portuguese M. boscce Lat., and the Chinese-Japanese M. pyrrho-gaster Boie, the affinity of which I pointed out many years ago *. E X P L AN A T IO N OP PLATE X V I I . Molge ivolterstorffi, sp. n. a. Male, natural size, side view. b. Male, natural size, lower view. c. Female, natural size, side view and lower view. 6. On Hybrid Hares between Lepus timidus L . and Lepus europceus Pall, from Southern Sweden. By E inar L o n n b e r g , C.M.Z.S., &c. [Received February 21, 1905.J (Text-figures 53 & 54.) Among the sportsmen of Southern Sweden it has for several years been regarded as a fact, that hybrids were produced between the native Variable Hare of Scandinavia (Lepus timidus L.) and the Common Hare of Middle Europe (L. europceus Pall.), introduced for sporting purposes from Denmark or Germany. This opinion had not, however, been proved by any scientific investigation, and the question therefore remained open. Hybrids between mammals living in an entirely wild state are, as is well known, exceedingly rare, although such among domesticated mammals, or even those kept only in confinement, are quite common as well as numerous with regard to the combinations. It seemed thus desirable to subject the supposed Hybrid Hares of Scania to a closer examination. For this purpose I tried to obtain further information about them and material for investigation f. Thanks to the kindness especially of Count Tage Thott and Count C. C. Beck-Friis, I have succeeded in getting several specimens, which proved to be hybrids, and the same and some other gentlemen furnished me with fresh material for comparison. * Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1880, p. 37. t This material is now kept in the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. |