E. Raymond Hall

“ The number of molts in a year, depending on the kind of lagomorph, varies in adults from one (according to Nelson, 1909:31) in the cottontails (genus Sylvilagus) to as many as three (according to Lyman, 1943, and Severaid, 1945) in the varying hare (Lepus americanus) . Difficulties that I have experienced in attempting to account for the variations in color and wear of the pelage of the pika, Ochotona princeps, on the basis of two molts per year, make me wonder if it, too, has three molts. Lepus townsendii certainly has at least two molts per year. ”

“ 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 [Pg 144] 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 geographic range is the largest of all of the North American species of the genus Sylvilagus; from Canada the species occurs south at least to Costa Rica and it may occur in Panamá for the species is recorded also from South America.
In the western part of the Great Plains this species is confined to the riparian growth along streams and Sylvilagus audubonii occupies the remainder of the terrain. In New Mexico and southwestern Texas S. floridanus is confined to the boreal life-zones where timber provides denser cover than is found in the lower life-zones. ”

“ On the tableland of Mexico and in the southwestern United States where this species occurs together with the white-sided jack rabbits, L. californicus can be recognized by the terminal black patch on the outside of each ear and by the less extensive area of white on the flank. To the eastward, in Tamaulipas, where only the black-tailed jack rabbit occurs, it too, has extensively white flanks and some individuals lack the terminal black patch on the ear. ”

“ Detection of the slightest movement of an enemy on the opposite side of the bush sends the pigmy rabbit, in one or a few jumps, into [Pg 125] the mouth of its burrow and, if need be, below ground. The pika, with the shortest ears and legs of all, lives in the rock slides and has to do little more than drop off the top of a rock into a space between the broken rocks when an enemy is detected near enough to the pika to have a chance of seizing it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Accordingly, the several names proposed for this purpose are arranged here as synonyms of the generic name Lepus Linnaeus.
The introduction of the European Hare (Lepus europaeus) into the eastern part of the North American Continent has been successful in the sense that the animal is multiplying. If it continues to increase, the increase almost certainly will be at the expense of some native species of rabbit. ”

“ 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, 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 [Pg 139] (Orr, 1940:182) farther than 42 feet from cover. ”

“ 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.
Subgenus BRACHYLAGUS Miller—Pigmy Rabbit
1900. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Each of the first upper incisors has a longitudinal groove on its anterior face.
All lagomorphs are herbivorous. They eat principally leaves and non-woody stems although the bark of sprouts and bushes is taken as second choice by rabbits and hares.
Correlation of structure and function is well illustrated among the lagomorphs by the means which the different species employ to detect and escape from their enemies. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sumas; Chilliwack. Washington: Mt. Vernon; Lake Kapowsin; White Salmon. Oregon: Drew; Florence; Tillamook. Washington: Sekiu River.
Lepus othus
Alaskan Hare
Total length, 565-690; tail, 53-104; hind foot, 147-189; ear from notch (dry) , 75-78. Color brownish in summer; white in winter; but tips of ears always black. General comparisons indicate that this is the species which, in Eurasia, bears the name Lepus timidus.
Lepus othus othus Merriam.
1900. Lepus othus Merriam, Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., 2:28, March 14, type from St. Michael, Norton Sound, Alaska. ”

“ Weights of lean individuals reach 12 pounds. Hopping on the hind feet without touching the forefeet to the ground has repeatedly been recorded for this species. There are four to eight young in a litter.
Fig. 45. Distribution of Lepus othus and Lepus arcticus. L. o. othus L. o. poadromus L. a. groenlandicus L. a. porsildi L. a. monstrabilis L. a. arcticus L. a. andersoni L. a. labradorius L. a. bangsi
Lepus arcticus arcticus Ross.
1819. Lepus arcticus Ross, Voyage of Discovery, ed. 2, vol. 2, appendix 4, p. 151, type locality Possession Bay, Bylot Island, lat. ”

“ This big rabbit is a stronger runner than the smaller marsh rabbit and is easily distinguished from the smaller species by larger size and white, instead of brownish or grayish, underside of the tail.
Sylvilagus aquaticus aquaticus (Bachman) .
1837. Lepus aquaticus Bachman, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7:319, type locality western Alabama.
1909. Sylvilagus aquaticus, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:270, August 31.
1895. Lepus aquaticus attwateri J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 7:327, November 8, type from Medina River, 18 mi. S San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. ”

“ In Arizona, Vorhies and Taylor (1933:478) found the weight of 23 adult males to average 5.1 (4.4-6.1) lbs. In that state, 70 pregnant females averaged 2.24 (1-6) young per litter and the authors (op. cit.) thought that a female had three or four litters each year.
Lepus californicus altamirae Nelson.
1904. Lepus merriami altamirae Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 17:109, May 18, type from Alta Mira, Tamaulipas. Known from type locality only.
1951. Lepus californicus altamirae, Hall, Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:45, October 1, 1951. ”

“ 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.
Fig. 7. Distribution of Sylvilagus idahoensis.
[Pg 141]
Subgenus SYLVILAGUS Gray—Cottontails and Allies
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. ”

“ This circumstance and the unfortunate consequences of the introduction of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in New Zealand (see Wodzicki, 1950:107-141) and Australia (see Stead, 1925:355-358) give basis for effort to exterminate the alien species before it spreads more widely.
Key to the Species of the Genus Lepus
1. North of 34° N latitude. 2. All white pelage (tips of ears sometimes black) . 3. North of line from Port Simpson, British Columbia, to Halifax, Nova Scotia. 4. Basilar length of skull more than 67; ear from notch usually more than 73 dry (77 fresh) ”

“ Ochotona saxatilis incana A. H. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 32:107, May 20, type from 12,000 ft., Pecos Baldy, Santa Fe County, New Mexico.
1924. Ochotona princeps incana A. H. Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, 47:25, September 23.
Marginal records.—Colorado: Medano Creek (A. H. Howell, 1924:25) . New Mexico: Wheeler Peak (V. Bailey, 1932:64) ; type locality.
Ochotona princeps jewetti A. H. Howell.
1919. Ochotona schisticeps jewetti A. H. Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 32:109, May 20, type from head of Pine Creek, near Cornucopia, S slope Wallowa Mts., Baker County, Oregon. ”

“ California (Orr, 1940:79) : 5000 ft., 7 mi. E Ravendale; 3600 ft., 1 mi. SE Weed; Hornbrook. Oregon (Nelson, 1909:133) : Hay Creek; Willow Junction.
Lepus californicus xanti Thomas.
1898. Lepus californicus xanti Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1 (ser. 7) :45, January, type from Santa Anita, Baja California.
Marginal records.—Baja California (Nelson, 1909:156) : Southern part of the Peninsula. Santa Clara Mts., southward around range of L. c. martirensis to and down east coast; La Paz; Cape St. Lucas; San Jorgé; 20 mi. W San Ignacio.
Lepus insularis Bryant
Black Jack Rabbit
1891. ”

“ Sylvilagus aquaticus littoralis Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:273, August 31, type from Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.
Range.—Swamps and marshes along Gulf Coast, wholly within Lower Austral Life-zone, below 50 ft., from Mobile Bay west to Matagordo Bay. Inland Marginal records.—Alabama: Blakely Island opposite Mobile (A. H. [Pg 168] Howell, 1921:73) . Mississippi: Bay St. Louis (Nelson, 1909:275) . Louisiana: Rayne (Lowery, 1936:32) ; Hackberry (Nelson, 1909:275) . Texas: Matagorda (Nelson, 1909:275) .
Sylvilagus insonus (Nelson)
Omilteme Cottontail
(See figure 39)
1904. ”

“ Tympanic bulla smaller than foramen magnum; hind foot more than 74; geographic range wholly in United States. 4. Ear more than 58 from notch in dried skin; basilar length of skull more than 63 Sylvilagus aquaticus, p. 166 4 ́. Ear less than 58 from notch in dried skin; basilar length of skull less than 63. 5. Underside of tail white; posterior extension of supraorbital process tapering to a slender point, this point free of braincase or barely touching it and leaving a slit or long foramen Sylvilagus transitionalis, p. ”

“ Underside of tail distinctly white. 13. Total length more than 476; ear from notch (dry) more than 64; interorbital breadth usually more than 19.3; geographic range, southwestern Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Sylvilagus cunicularius, p. 169 13 ́. Total length less than 476; ear from notch (dry) less than 64; interorbital breadth usually less than 19.3; geographic range, Canada to Panamá Sylvilagus floridanus, p. 154
[Pg 137]
Genus Romerolagus Merriam—Volcano Rabbit
1896. ”

“ Mammals of the Big Bend area of Texas. Univ. California Publ. Zool., 48:1-62, 5 pls., 1 fig. in text, August 7.
[Pg 197]
Brown, L.
1940. The distribution of the white-tailed jack rabbit (Lepus townsendii campanius Hollister) in Kansas. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 43:385-389.
Burt, W. H.
1938. Faunal relationships and geographic distribution of mammals in Sonora, Mexico. Misc. Publ., Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, 39:1-77, 3 tables, 26 maps, February 15.
1946. The mammals of Michigan. Univ. Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, xv + 1-288 pp., illustrated.
Burt, W. H., and Hooper, E. T.
1941. ”

“ Provisional list of land mammals of the State of Washington. Occas. Pap. Chas. R. Conner Mus., No. 2, pp. 1-32, December.
Vorhies, C. T., and Taylor, W. P.
1933. The life-histories and ecology of jack rabbits, Lepus alleni and Lepus californicus ssp., in relation to grazing in Arizona. Tech. Bull., Univ. Arizona, College Agric., Agric. Exp. Station, 49:468-587, 12 pls., 5 figs, in text, 17 tables, May 31.
Warren, E. R.
1942. The mammals of Colorado. Univ. of Oklahoma Press. xviii + 330 pp., 50 pls.
[Pg 202]
Wodzicki, K. A.
1950. ”