1934. Ochotona princeps tutelata Hall, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 47:103, June 13, type from 8150 ft., Greenmonster Canyon, Monitor Mts., Nye County, Nevada.
Marginal records (Hall, 1946:591).—Nevada: 7500 ft., Smiths Creek, Desatoya Mts.; 8600 ft., type locality; 8700-11,000 ft., SW and W slopes Mt. Jefferson, Toquima Range; South Twin River; Arc Dome.
Ochotona princeps uinta Hollister.
1912. Ochotona uinta Hollister, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 25:58, April 13, type from "near" head E. Fork Bear River, Uinta Mts., Utah.
1924. Ochotona princeps uinta, A. H. Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, 47:19, September 23.
Marginal records.—Utah: type locality; Elk Park (Hall and Bowlus, 1938:337); 11,000 to 11,500 ft., The Nipple (ibid.); 10,500 ft., SW slope Bald Mtn. (op. cit.:336); Mt. Timpanogos (op. cit.:337); 8500 ft., Morehouse Canyon, 5 mi. above Weber River (op. cit.:337); Spirit Lake (op. cit.:336) not found.
Ochotona princeps utahensis Hall and Hayward.
1941. Ochotona princeps utahensis Hall and Hayward, Great Basin Nat., 2:107, July 20, type from 2 mi. W Deer Lake, Garfield County, Utah.
Marginal records.—Utah: 9000 ft., Donkey Lake, Boulder Mtn. (Durrant, MS); type locality.
Ochotona princeps ventorum A. H. Howell.
1919. Ochotona uinta ventorum A. H. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 32:106, May 20, type from Fremont Peak, Wind River Mts., Fremont County, Wyoming.
1924. Ochotona princeps ventorum A. H. Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, 47:18, September 23.
Marginal records.—Montana: Emigrant Peak (A. H. Howell, 1924:19); Beartooth Mts. (ibid.). Wyoming: 9600 ft., 19-1/2 mi. E and 4-1/2 mi. S Shell (20882 KU); head of Trappers Creek (A. H. Howell, 1924:19); Medicine Wheel Ranch, 28 mi. E Lovell (32919 KU); Needle Mtn. (A. H. Howell, 1924:19); Lake Fork (ibid.); 8450 ft., 17-1/2 mi. S and 6-1/2 mi. W Lander (37994 KU); Middle Piney Lake, "near" Stanley (A. H. Howell, 1924:19); Salt River, 16 mi. S Afton (Hall and Bowlus, 1938:337); Teton Pass (A. H. Howell, 1924:19). Idaho: Teton Canyon (Davis, 1939:349).
Hind legs longer than forelegs; ears longer than wide; frontal bone carrying supraorbital process consisting always of posterior arm and sometimes of anterior arm; rostrum wide; nasals not wider anteriorly than posteriorly; maxillae conspicuously fenestrated; jugal projecting less than half way from zygomatic root of squamosal to external auditory meatus (except in Romerolagus); pubic symphysis well marked; dental formula, i. 2/1, c. 0/0, p. 3/2, m. 3/3 (but m. 2/3 in Pentalagus of Liu Kiu Islands south of Japan); second upper maxillary tooth like third in form; last lower molar double; cutting edge of first upper incisor straight; mental foramen of mandible situated under first lower cheek-tooth. Females average larger than males in all members of this family. (See Orr, 1940:20.) The reverse is true in most other families of mammals.
Hare is a name applied to any lagomorph whose young are born fully haired, with the eyes open, and able to run about a few minutes after birth. The young are born in the open, not in a nest. All of the species of the genus Lepus are hares. The species of leporids of all genera other than Lepus, in North America at least, are rabbits. Their young are born naked, blind, and helpless, in a nest especially built for them and lined with fur. Considering the degree of development of the young at birth, the gestation periods are about what a person would expect: 26 to 30 days in Sylvilagus and 36 to 47 days in Lepus (see Severaid, 1950:356-357). Vernacular names are misleading because the names jack rabbit and snowshoe rabbit are applied to hares; also, Belgian hare is a name applied to a rabbit (genus Oryctolagus) that is commonly bred in captivity. There are many domestic strains and varieties of Oryctolagus and the animals are second only to poultry in some areas as a protein food for man. Also, the pelts are sold as a source of felt and many of the skins are dyed and processed for making fur coats and other fur-pieces that appear on the market under names not readily associated with rabbit.
Rabbits and hares are crepuscular and possibly more nocturnal than diurnal. So far as I know they do not store food as do their diurnal relatives, the pikas. Some leporids, however, have an unusual, and possibly unique, method of processing food: Two types of vegetable pellets are expelled from the anal opening of the digestive tract; the dark brownish pellets, from which the nutriments have been extracted, are feces, but the greenish pellets seem to be only slightly predigested foods which are re-eaten. Southern (1942:553), among others, has written about this. This system functionally resembles that in the ruminants where a cud of vegetation is returned to the mouth, from one part of the stomach, to be re-chewed and finally swallowed.
Because the causative organism of a disease that decimates dense populations of small mammals, and some other kinds of vertebrates, was isolated first in leporids, this disease, tularemia, is more associated in the popular mind with rabbits than with other kinds of mammals. Actually, many kinds of mammals are quite as likely to have tularemia as are rabbits. Now that streptomycin is available, cases of tularemia in persons are easily cured.
Key to Species of the Genera Sylvilagus and Romerolagus
1896. Romerolagus Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:173, December 29. Type, Romerolagus nelsoni Merriam = Lepus diazi Diaz.
Total length 300 to 311; tail rudimentary; hind foot, 52; ear from notch (dry), 36; upper parts grizzled buffy brown or dull cinnamon brown; underparts dingy gray; anterior projection of supraorbital process absent; jugal projecting posteriorly past squamosal root of zygomatic arch more than half way to external auditory meatus. The two cranial characters mentioned are resemblances to pikas although the skull otherwise resembles that of the true rabbits. The genus contains only the one living species.
Living in well defined runways in the dense sacoton grass, these small rabbits are mainly nocturnal and crepuscular, but sometimes are active by day, especially in cloudy weather in the period of mating.
1893. Lepus diazi Diaz, Catal. Com. Geográf.-Expl. Repub. Mex. Expos. Internac. Columb. Chicago, pl. 42, March, 1893, type from eastern slope of Mount Ixtaccihuatl, Puebla.
1911. Romerolagus diazi Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 24:228, October 31, 1911.
1896. Romerolagus nelsoni Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:173, December 29, 1896, type from west slope Mount Popocatepetl, 11,000 feet, México.
Range.—Canadian Life-zone of the mountains bounding the eastern, southern and western sides of the Valley of Mexico. Marginal records.—México: Monte Río Frío, 45 km. ESE Mexico City (Davis, 1944:401). Puebla: type locality. México: Mt. Popocatepetl (Nelson, 1909:280). Distrito Federal: 31 km. S Mexico City (30815 KU). México: Llano Grande, 3 km. W Tlalmanalco (28278 KU).
Revised by Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:58-158, August 31, 1909.
1867. Sylvilagus Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 20 (ser. 3):221. Type, Lepus sylvaticus Bachman, Lepus nuttalli mallurus Thomas.
Total length, 291-538; tail, 18-73; hind foot, 71-110; ear from notch (dry) 41-74. Grayish to dark brownish above and lighter below; sutures of interparietal bone distinct throughout life; second to fourth cervical vertebrae broader than long with dorsal surface flattened and without carination.
The delectable flesh of members of this genus, the large numbers that occur on a small area, even in thickly settled rural areas, and the wariness that rabbits soon develop when much hunted, give them top ranking among small game mammals. Tens of thousands of cottontails in Kansas and Missouri (Sylvilagus floridanus and some S. audubonii) are captured alive, transported to the eastern United States and released there to bolster the local supply of game. Considering that certain ectoparasites are limited to certain hosts and that some ectoparasites transmit such diseases as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever whereas other ectoparasites do not, this transplantation of rabbits is dangerous. Also, expenditure of $100.00 on improving the habitat for Sylvilagus in a given area in the eastern United States would produce more cottontails than the expenditure of the same sum for live animals, from the Middlewest, that are to be released (see Langenbach and Beule, 1942:14, 15 and 30).
Different species venture different distances from cover to feed. The Audubon cottontail of west-central California ventures a hundred feet and more from cover but the brush rabbit was never seen (Orr, 1940:182) farther than 42 feet from cover. In the thirties, when a gladiolus farmer from the chaparral belt of Santa Clara County, California, visited the University of California seeking advice on how to prevent damage by "cottontails" to his gladioli plantings, we asked the farmer if brush rabbits or cottontails were responsible and suggested to the farmer, who was unable to distinguish between the two, that an animal be killed and submitted for identification. When this was done, the brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani) was found to be responsible for the damage. Robert T. Orr's recommendation that the chaparral (brush) be cut back 45 feet from the gladioli plantings was reluctantly followed and proved to be effective. A letter from a Santa Clara County agricultural official a couple of years later expressed thanks for the recommendation made by Orr, and estimated that adoption of his recommendations saved farmers of that one county $40,000 annually. This incident illustrates how detailed knowledge of the life history of a given kind of animal and control of its environment, rather than direct "control" of the animal, is sometimes of value to man.
The genus Sylvilagus is restricted to the New World; the two species Sylvilagus brasiliensis and S. floridanus are the only two which occur in South America and they occur also in North America.
1900. Brachylagus Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 13:157, June 13. Type, Lepus idahoensis Merriam. For characters see subgenus Sylvilagus.
1891. Lepus idahoensis Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 5:76, July 30, type from head of Pahsimeroi Valley, near Goldburg, Custer County, Idaho (Davis, Recent Mammals of Idaho, p. 363, April 9, 1939).
1930. Sylvilagus idahoensis, Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 35:553, October 10.
Marginal records.—In southeastern Washington: Ritzville (Taylor and Shaw, 1929:29); Lind (243344 USBS); Warden (Taylor and Shaw, 1929:29). In remainder of range: Montana: Bannack (Davis, 1937:27). Idaho: Trail Creek near Pocatello (Davis, 1939:366). Utah: 3 mi. NE Clarkson (Durrant, MS); W side Utah Lake (ibid.); 20 mi. W Parowan (ibid.); 10 mi. SW Cedar City (ibid.). Nevada: 8-1/2 mi. NE Sharp (Hall, 1946:618); Fallon (Schantz, 1947:187). California: Bodie (Severaid, 1950:2); 5000 ft., 3 mi. S Ravendale (Orr, 1940:194). Oregon: Silver Lake (Bailey, 1936:110, fig. 17, 206518 USBS); Fremont (ibid., 205005 USBS); Redmond (ibid., 242302 USBS); 10 mi. N Baker (Dice, 1926:27). Idaho: type locality; Junction (Davis, 1939:366).
Total length, 250-290; tail, 20-30; hind foot, 65-72; ear from notch (dry), 36-48; weight, 6 ♂ 409(375-435), 9 ♀ 398(246-458) grams. Upper parts pinkish to blackish or dark grayish depending on amount of wear. The pigmy rabbit lives in burrows, mostly dug by itself, preferably where tall sagebrush grows densely. This species feeds extensively on sagebrush, at least in winter. Six young seem to be the rule and they are born any time from late in May until early in August.
1867. Sylvilagus Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 20 (ser. 3):221. Type, Lepus sylvaticus Bachman [= Lepus nuttalli mallurus Thomas].
1867. Tapeti Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 20 (ser. 3):224, September. Type Lepus brasiliensis Linnaeus.
1897. Microlagus Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., p. 660. Type, Lepus cinerascens J. A. Allen.
1897. Limnolagus Mearns, Science, n. s., 5:393, March 5. Type Lepus aquaticus Bachman.
1950. Paludilagus Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:333, May 26. Type Lepus palustris Bachman.
Characters of subgeneric worth, in contrast to those of the subgenus Brachylagus, are: First premolar, in upper jaw and in lower jaw, with more than one fold in the enamel; infolded enamel, which divides each molar tooth into two parts, crenate.
The many nominal species of the subgenus Sylvilagus belong to no more than 12 and perhaps to only ten full species. The now more abundant specimens than were available a half century ago reveal also that there are less trenchant differences between some of the species than were supposed to exist when the five names for genera or subgenera listed immediately above were proposed. Some species can be placed in each of two subgenera with almost equal propriety. If used, four of the five subgeneric names mentioned above would contain only one species each. It seems that no useful purpose is served by attempting to fit the several species of the genus Sylvilagus into more than the two subgenera Brachylagus and Sylvilagus; the other names, Tapeti Gray, Microlagus Trouessart, Limnolagus Mearns, and Paludilagus Hershkovitz, are here arranged as synonyms of the subgeneric name Sylvilagus Gray.
Total length, 380-420; tail, 20-21; hind foot, 77-80; ear from notch (dry), 39-46. The principal characters of this species are small size, dark color, short tail, and dingy buffy (not white) undersurface of the tail. These rabbits rest in forests or other thick vegetative cover and do not venture far from such cover to feed.
Sylvilagus brasiliensis consobrinus Anthony.
1917. Sylvilagus gabbi consobrinus Anthony, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 37:335, May 28, type from Old Panamá, Panamá. Known from type locality only.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis consobrinus, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:353, May 26.
Sylvilagus brasiliensis dicei Harris.
1932. Sylvilagus dicei Harris, Occas. Papers Univ. Michigan, Mus. Zool., 248:1, August 4, type from 6000 ft., El Copey de Dota, in the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis dicei, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:352, May 26.
Marginal records.—Costa Rica (Goodwin, 1946:359); Rancho de Río Jimenez; Juan Viñas; type locality; San José.
Sylvilagus brasiliensis gabbi (J. A. Allen).
1877. Lepus brasiliensis var. gabbi J. A. Allen, Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia, p. 349, August, type locality Costa Rica and Chiriquí; restricted by Nelson (N. Amer. Fauna, 29:259, August 31, 1909), by designation of type specimen, to Talamanca [= Sipurio, Río Sixaola, near Caribbean Coast], Costa Rica.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis gabbi, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:351, May 26.
1908. Lepus gabbi tumacus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 24:649, October 13, type from Tuma, Nicaragua.
Marginal records.—Honduras: San Pedro Sula (Nelson, 1909:261); to Gulf Coast and southward along coast to Panamá Canal, Panamá: Gatun (Goldman, 1920:146); Corozal (ibid.); Gobernador Island (ibid.); Divala (ibid.); Chiriquí (Goodwin, 1946:358). Northward east of the range of S. b. dicei, thence westward in Costa Rica: Vijaqual, San Carlos (Goodwin, 1946:358). Nicaragua: Matagalpa (Allen, 1910:96); Ocotal (ibid.). Honduras: San José, Santa Barbara (Goodwin, 1942:151).
Sylvilagus brasiliensis incitatus (Bangs).
1901. Lepus (Tapeti) incitatus Bangs, Amer. Nat., 35:633, August, type from San Miguel Island, Bay of Panamá. Known from type locality only.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis incitatus, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:352, May 26.
Sylvilagus brasiliensis messorius Goldman.
1912. Sylvilagus gabbi messorius Goldman, Smiths. Misc. Coll. 60 (no. 2):13, September 20, type from Cana, 1800 ft., mts. of eastern Panamá.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis messorius, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:352, May 26.
Marginal records.—Panamá (Goldman, 1920:147): Boca de Cupe; Tacarcuna; Tapalisa; type locality.
Sylvilagus brasiliensis truei (J. A. Allen).
1890. Lepus truei J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3:192, December 10, type from Mirador, Veracruz.
1950. Sylvilagus brasiliensis truei, Hershkovitz, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 100:351, May 26.
Marginal records (Nelson, 1909:264, unless otherwise noted).—San Luis Potosí: Rancho Apetsco, Xilitla (Dalquest, 1950:4), thence down coast to Tabasco: Teapa. Chiapas: Huehuetan. Oaxaca: Santo Domingo. Veracruz: Buena Vista; Motzorongo. Puebla: Metlaltoyuca.
Size small. Total length, 300-375; tail, 20-43; hind foot, 64-81; ear from notch (dry), 50-64; weight (topotypes of S. b. macrorhinus) 16 ♂ 679 (561-832), 22 ♀ 707 (517-843) grams. Body uniformly dark brown or brownish gray, but tail whitish beneath; hair on midventral part of body gray at base; only a slight crenulation of ridge of enamel which separates an individual molariform tooth into anterior and posterior sections. From Sylvilagus audubonii, the only other species of Sylvilagus in the same geographic area, S. bachmani differs in smaller size, less white on underparts (the hairs on the midventral part of the body being gray instead of white at base), shorter ears and legs, and a less crenulated ridge of enamel separating the anterior and posterior parts of a molariform tooth.
The brush rabbit is a Pacific Coastal species; as may be seen from figure 9 on the next page, this species occurs from the Columbia River on the north to the tip of Baja California on the south. Nowhere, so far as I can learn, does it occur as far east as the crest of the Cascade-Sierra Nevada Mountain Chain. Throughout its range the brush rabbit is closely associated with—in fact, lives in—the chaparral that is dense enough to afford protection from raptorial birds and the larger carnivorous mammals. The rabbit's reliance on protective cover is so great that, as pointed out on an earlier page, a person can turn this trait to advantage in protecting cultivated crops from inroads that the rabbits might make on them. The protection is afforded by clearing the brush from a strip forty-five feet wide so that the cleared strip intervenes between the cultivated crops and the brushy shelter. The rabbits will not risk crossing the open strip and hence do not reach the growing crops.
Brush rabbits use simple "forms" in the brush for resting. Only one observer (Orr, 1940: 173) has reported an individual entering a hole. In patches of chaparral in which the rabbits live they make runways that are especially well defined at the edges of the brush. The outer entrance to a runway is tunnellike and one to two feet from the outer entrance there is a special form that serves as a lookout post. A brush rabbit that is about to venture into the open ordinarily pauses in such a form for several minutes, presumably to satisfy itself that no enemy is in the open area whither the rabbit is bound.
The breeding season is from January to June, at least in California. There are 2 to 5 young, averaging 3.5 per litter. They are born in a nest.
Sylvilagus bachmani bachmani (Waterhouse).
1839. Lepus bachmani Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Pt. 6 (for 1838):103, February 7, type from California, probably between Monterey and Santa Barbara.
1904. Sylvilagus (microlagus) bachmani, Lyon, Smiths. Misc. Coll., 45:336, June 15.
1855. Lepus trowbridgei Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 333, type from Monterey County, California.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940:150): 2 mi. S mouth Salinas River; near Morro.
Sylvilagus bachmani cerrosensis (J. A. Allen).
1898. Lepus cerrosensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 10:145, April 12, type from Cerros [=Cedros] Island, Baja California. Known from type locality only.
1909. Sylvilagus bachmani cerrosensis, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:255, August 31.
Sylvilagus bachmani cinerascens (J. A. Allen).
1890. Lepus cinerascens J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3:159, October 8, type from San Fernando, Los Angeles County, California.
1907. Sylvilagus bachmani cinerascens, Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 20:84, July 22.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940:168): 5700 ft., San Emigdio Canyon; 3 mi. E San Fernando; Reche Canyon (Orr, 1940:169); 3500 ft., Dos Palmas Springs, Santa Rosa Mts. Baja California (Nelson, 1909:253): La Huerta, thence northward up-coast to point of beginning.
Sylvilagus bachmani exiguus Nelson.
1907. Sylvilagus bachmani exiguus Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 20:84, July 22, type from Yubay, central Baja California.
Marginal records.—Baja California (Nelson, 1909:254): Agua Dulce; Santana.
Sylvilagus bachmani howelli Huey.
1927. Sylvilagus bachmani howelli Huey, Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., 5:67, July 6, type from 10 mi. SE Alamo, Baja California, lat. 31° 35´ N, long. 116° 03´ W.
Marginal records.—Baja California (Huey, 1927:68): Laguna Hanson, Sierra Juarez; type locality.
Sylvilagus bachmani macrorhinus Orr.
1935. Sylvilagus bachmani macrorhinus Orr, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 48:28, February 6, type from Alpine Creek Ranch, 3-1/2 mi. S and 2-1/3 mi. E Portola, 1700 ft., San Mateo County, California.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940:163): 10 mi. SW Suisun; W side Mt. Diablo; Summit Station, Santa Cruz Mts., thence north along coast to Golden Gate.
Sylvilagus bachmani mariposae Grinnell and Storer.
1916. Sylvilagus bachmani mariposae Grinnell and Storer, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 17:7, August 23, type from McCauley Trail, 4000 ft., near El Portal, Mariposa County, California.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940): Carbondale (p. 158); French Gulch, 6700 ft., Piute Mtn. (p. 159).
Sylvilagus bachmani peninsularis (J. A. Allen).
1898. Lepus peninsularis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 10:144, April 12, type from Santa Anita, Baja California.
1909. Sylvilagus bachmani peninsularis, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:255, August 31.
Marginal records.—Baja California (Nelson, 1909:255): type locality; Cape San Lucas.
Sylvilagus bachmani riparius Orr.
1935. Sylvilagus bachmani riparius Orr, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 48:29, February 6, type from west side San Joaquin River, 2 mi. NE Vernalis, in Stanislaus County, California. Known from type locality only.
Sylvilagus bachmani rosaphagus Huey.
1940. Sylvilagus bachmani rosaphagus Huey, Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., 9:221, July 31, type from 2 mi. W Santo Domingo Mission, Baja California, México, lat. 30° 45´ N, long. 115° 58´ W, or precisely, near the huge red cliff that marks the entrance of the Santo Domingo River Cañon from the coastal plain.
Marginal records.—Baja California (Huey, 1940): San Quintín (p. 223); El Rosario (p. 222).
Sylvilagus bachmani tehamae Orr.
1935. Sylvilagus bachmani tehamae Orr, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 48:27, February 6, type from Dale's, on Paine's Creek, 600 ft., Tehama County, California.
Marginal records.—Oregon (Orr, 1935:28): Prospect. California (Orr, 1940:156): Auburn; 7 mi. W and 14 mi. S Chico; Rumsey; Castle Springs; 3 mi. S Covelo; Mad River Bridge, S. Fork Mtn.
Sylvilagus bachmani ubericolor (Miller).
1899. Lepus bachmani ubericolor Miller, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 383, September 29, type from Beaverton, Washington County, Oregon.
1904. Sylvilagus (Microlagus) bachmani ubericolor, Lyon, Smiths. Misc. Coll., 45:337, June 15.
Range.—Columbia River, Oregon, south to San Francisco Bay, California, and from the Pacific Coast eastward to a line connecting the following marginal records.—Oregon (V. Bailey, 1936:109, unless otherwise noted): Portland (Nelson, 1909:251); Mackenzie Bridge; above Grants Pass. California (Orr, 1940:153): Laytonville; Maillard [=4 mi. E Lagunitas].
Sylvilagus bachmani virgulti Dice.
1926. Sylvilagus bachmani virgulti Dice, Occas. papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 166:24, February 11, Soledad, Monterey County, California.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940:166): The Pinnacles; Waltham Cr., 4-1/2 mi. SE Priest Valley; 2 mi. S San Miguel; Bryson.
1907. Sylvilagus mansuetus Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 20:83, July 22, type from San José Island, Gulf of California, Baja California. Known from San José Island only.
This insular species is closely related to Sylvilagus bachmani and is distinguished by paleness, proportionately longer and narrower skull, fusion to skull of anterior arm of supraorbital process, and larger jugal.
Total length, 425-440; tail, 33-39; hind foot, 88-91; ear from notch (dry), 45-52. Upper parts blackish brown or reddish brown; underside of tail brownish or dingy gray (not white); ears, tail and hind feet short; posterior and anterior extensions of supraorbital processes joined to skull along most (or all) of their extent. The lack of white on the underside of the tail is a ready means of distinguishing this species from the other species of the genus which occur within its geographic range. The species occurs in the lowlands, possibly not above 500 feet altitude, of the Lower Austral and Tropical life-zones. In Florida, Blair (1936) found that the marsh rabbit ate 29 per cent of its bodily weight in green food each day and that the number of embryos in 3 females was 4, 4 and 3.
Sylvilagus palustris paludicola (Miller and Bangs).
1894. Lepus paludicola Miller and Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 9:105, June 9, type from Ft. Island, near Crystal Riv., Citrus Co., Fla.
1909. Sylvilagus palustris paludicola, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:269, August 31.
Marginal records.—Florida (Nelson, 1909:270): Hibernia [= Green Cove Springs]; San Mateo; along Atlantic Coast at least to Micco; Kissimmee River; Cape Sable; northward along Gulf Coast and on coastal islands at least to Suwanee River.
Sylvilagus palustris palustris (Bachman).
1837. Lepus palustris Bachman, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7:194, type locality eastern South Carolina.
1909. Sylvilagus palustris, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:266, August 31.
Marginal records.—Nansemond County (Handley and Patton, 1947:190), southward along Atlantic Coast to northern Florida: Anastasia Island (Nelson, 1909:269). West to Gulf Coast and along Coast to Alabama: Bon Secour (Nelson, 1909:269); Flomaton (Howell, 1921:74); Dothan (ibid.). Georgia: Americus (Nelson, 1909:269). South Carolina: Society Hill (ibid.).