Revision of the Coyotes. 31 



legs moderately mixed with black ; underside of tail pale fulvous, whitish 

 at very base, hairs of distal half black-tipped ; extreme end of tail black, 

 usually with a few white hairs. 



Cranial and dental characters. Skull and teeth small and light as in C. 

 estor ; a little larger than in C. microdon from Mier, Tamaulipas. 



Remarks. Canis mearnsi is the handsomest of the Coyotes. It differs 

 from C. microdon of the Lower Rio Grande region in slightly larger size 

 and in the greater extent and much brighter tints of the fulvous parts. 

 The fore and hind legs and feet are bright orange-fulvous all round ; in 

 C. microdon the fulvous is deeper and duller and the white of the inguinal 

 region reaches down on the inner side of the hind leg to the ankle and 

 covers the upper surface of the foot, and in the fore leg a white stripe 

 reaches all the way down the posterior aspect of the leg to the wrist. 

 Compared with microdon, the throat and middle part of the belly are more 

 ochraceous and have fewer black-tipped hairs the belly practically none. 

 The skull and teeth of mearnsi are almost exactly like those of estor, but 

 in coloration the two animals differ so widely as to require no comparison. 

 Nevertheless, specimens collected by Dr. Mearns at Tinajas Altas, Arizona, 

 are so much paler than typical mearnsi as to suggest intergradation. 



Measurements. Female adult from type locality: total length, 1100; 

 tail vertebrae, 330; hind foot, 180 (measured in flesh by Dr. Mearns). 



Cranial measurements. Type specimen, $ young adult, not fully grown : 

 basal length, 163; basilar length of Hensel, 160; zygomatic breadth, 83; 

 palatal length, 88 ; mastoid breadth, 56.5 ; length of crown of upper 

 carnassial tooth, 19. 



Canis estor sp. nov. 



Type locality. Noland's ranch, San Juan River, Utah. No. 57141, 9 

 adult, U. S. National Museum, Department of Agriculture collection. 

 Collected November 20, 1893, by J. Alden Loring. Original No. 1379. 



Characters. Size small; coloration pale, but not quite so pale as in 

 pallidus; carnassial and molar teeth small. 



Color. Muzzle exceedingly pale fulvous; top of head grizzled grayish 

 and ochraceous buffy ; ears and nape ochraceous buff; upper parts huffy, 

 sparingly mixed with black hairs ; under parts whitish ; long hairs of 

 throat conspicuously black-tipped ; some black-tipped hairs along median 

 line of breast; outer side of fore legs bright buff, pale on inner side and 

 on fore feet ; outer side of hind legs and feet buffy-ochraceous ; inner side 

 of hind leg and upper surface of hind foot white or whitish ; under side 

 of tail ochraceous, becoming white basally, the hairs of distal half con 

 spicuously tipped with black ; black tip short. 



Cranial and dental characters. Skull and teeth similar to those of C. 

 mearnsi, but lateral teeth slightly larger. Compared with typical ochropus, 

 the rostrum is somewhat more swollen in the females and conspicuously 

 more in the males. 



Remarks. Canis estor bears the same relation to C. mearnsi th&t pallidus 

 does to latrans. Both are pale desert forms, slightly smaller than the 



