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Show 88 MR. G. E. H BARKETT-HAMILTON ON [Feb. 6, size m favour of the latter, which is confirmed by observations on the weight of the animal. There is possibly a certain amount of intergradation between North Irish and South Scottish specimens, but I have as yet no evidence of it. I suspect that Scandinavian Hares are larger than those of Scotland, but the number of specimens at present at m y disposal is too scanty to establish this fact with certainty. The single specimen of the Altai Variable Hare which I have examined is very remarkable in that it belongs to the red-brown type, and closely resembles the Irish Hare : in fact, the only distinguishing characteristic which I can find in it is the fact that the back of each ear is black. It is a remarkable example of the manner in which a particular type of coloration may be independently assumed in quite separate localities. There is a very peculiar local form of the Irish Hare, which is found in the County Dublin, Ireland, and in which the upperside is of a uniform buff or cinnamon colour. It seems to m e to be of extreme interest to students of colour-variation, as tending to throw light on the possible evolution of species from " sports " or from discontinuous variations. That the Irish Hare may have a tendency to vary in that particular direction, even when transported to another country, is shown by the occurrence of a similar sport amongst the introduced Irish Hares of the Island of Mull, Scotland. These sports must, I suppose, be regarded in the light of partially albinistic or leucochroic variations; but, even if their origin be due in the first instance to disease, they seem to be highly hereditary, and even capable of holding their own against the ordinary form. In the particular district of the County Dublin to which I have referred they are said to occur to the total exclusion of the true Lepus t. hibernicus. In addition to the above, I take the opportunity of describing from a skull in the British Museum a remarkable A'ariable Hate from the Island of Yezo, Japan. The following are the various forms :- (1) LEPUS TIMIDUS TYPICUS. Lepus timidus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. x. p. 57 (1758). Lepus variabilis, Pallas, Glires, i. p. 1 (1778). Lepus albus, W . E. Leach, ' Syst. Cat. of the Specimens of the Indigenous Mammalia and Birds that are preserved in the Briiish Museum; p. 7 (1816). "Lepus borcalis Pall.," S. JNilsson, Skandinavisk Fauna, p. 211 (1820). Lepus borcalis sglvaticus, S. Nilsson, Illuminerade Figurer till Skandinaviens Fauna, letterpress to pi. 22 (1829-1832): nee Bachman (1837). Lepus canescens, Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Fdrhandlingar, p. 133 (1844). Synonymy. All the above names, except L. albus which has |