1852.] 



115 



led beneath, horn 



Dimensioks. 



From point of nose to root of tail, 

 Tail, (vertebra",) 



" (to end of hair.) ..... 

 Circumference of tail, (broadest part,) 

 From shoulder to fore-feet, . '. . 

 From rump to hind-feet, .... 



Height of ears, (posteriorly,) .... 

 From point of nose to eye, .... 

 Longest hairs on the brush, .... 

 " on the body, . . . . 



Description. Claws slightly arched, compressed, channel 

 color ; hair, of two kinds, first, a coarse and long hair covering the fur beneath it; 

 second, a dense and very soft fine fUr, composed of hairs that are straight, but 

 crimped and j^vavy, as in the silver gra}' fox. Fur plumbeous at the rqots, 

 gradually becoming dai-k brown towards the tips in those parts of the body which 

 are dark colored on the surface ; in those parts which are white, the fur is white 

 from the roots, and on no part of the animal does it present any annulations. 



The long hairs are dark-brown from the roots, yellowish-white near the mid- 

 dle of their length, and are tipped with black. 



On the under surface the hairs are principally white their whole extent, with 

 a few black ones intermixed; the fur on the tail is rather less fme and more 

 woolly than on the body. 



Feet covered with, soft hair reaching beyond the toes ; on the forehead the hair 

 is rather coarse and short, with fine fur beneath. From this intermixture of 

 hairs the animal is greyish-white on the hea<l, dark-brown on the neck, grayish- 

 brown on the dorsal line and on the sides ; the throat, under surface of the bod}', 

 insides of legs, and feet are black. 



The tail is irregularly banded with dark brown and dull white, the tip white 

 for about three inches. 



Another Specimen. Nose, both surfaces of the legs, and behind the ears, dark 

 reddish-brown; whiskers black; under side of neck, and aline on the belly, liver 

 brown. Fur on the back very fine, and dark ashy-gray from the roots: the 

 longer hairs on the back are black at the roots, and are broadly tipped with white ; 

 fur on the sides, cinereous at the roots, and yellowish-white from thence to the 

 end. 



There is a reddish tinge on the neck, extending to the shoulders ; sides of the 

 face grizzly-brown ; the hair on the tail is irregularly clouded with brown and 

 dull white, and is lightest on the under surface. 



This animal was first noticed, by Lewis and Clarke, as the large red fox of the 

 plains, (vol. 2, p. 168,) and was referred to by us in the first volume of the 

 Quadrupeds of North America, p. 54, where we described it from a hunter's skin. 



Having obtained a beautiful specimen from Captain Rhett, of the United States 

 Army, we now propose for it the name of Vnlpes TJtaJi, as it is, so far as our 

 information extends, chiefly found in the Utah territory, although it probably 

 ranges considerably north of the Great Salt Lake. 



The habits of this beautiful fox are similar to those of the E.ed Fox, and it 

 runs into many varieties of color. 



Captain Rhett informed us that he killed the specimen, kindly presented to us 

 by him, near Fort Larimee. 



Several specimens of Vidpes Utah have been received at the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and it will probably sooa be well known. 



