A Synopsis of the North American LagomorphaHall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Science
A Synopsis of the North American Lagomorpha
Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Lagomorpha; Mammals -- North America
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.
Subgenus BRACHYLAGUS Miller--Pigmy Rabbit
1900. _Brachylagus_ Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 13:157,
June 13. Type, _Lepus idahoensis_ Merriam. For characters see
subgenus _Sylvilagus_.
Sylvilagus idahoensis (Merriam)
Pigmy Rabbit
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