The Viviparious Quadrupeds of North America (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: GENUS LEPUS.?Linn. DENTAL FORMULA. Incisive %; Canine; Molar j = 28. Upper incisors in pairs, two in front large and grooved, and two immediately behind, small; lower incisors square'; molars, with flat crowns, and transverse laminae of enamel. Interior of the mouth and soles of the feet furnished with hair; ears and eyes large; fore-feet with five toes; hind-feet with only four; hind-legs very long; tail short; mammae, from six to ten. The word Lepus is derived from the Latin, lepus, and Greek Eolic, itfi(, (leporis, ) a hare. There are about thirty known species of this genus, of which rather the largest number, (perhaps sixteen or seventeen species, ) exist in North and South America; while the remainder belong to the Eastern continent. LEPUS TOWNSENDII.?Bach. Townsend's Rocky Mountain Hare. PLATE III Male And Female.?Natural size. L. magnitudine, L. Americano par; auribus, cauda, cruribus tarsisque longissimis; supra diluti cinereus, infra albus. CHARACTERS. Size of the Northern hare, (L. Arnericanus: ) ears, tail, legs, and tarsus, very long; colour above, light gray; beneath, white. SYNONYMES. Lkpus Townsendii, Bach., Journal Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia, vol. viii,, part 1, p. 90, pi. 2, (1839.) read Aug. 7, 1838. DESCRIPTION. Body, long and slender; head, much arched; eyes large; ears, long; tail very long, (compared with others of the genus, ) in proportion to the size of the animal; legs long and slender; tarsus very long. The whole conformation of this animal is indicative of great speed. COLOUR. Crown of the head, cheeks, neck, whole upper parts, and the front of the ears and legs, externally, gray; with a faint cream-coloured tinge. Hair, on back and sides, whitish, or silver gray, at the roots, followed by b...