VULPES. 



473 



Genl. Char. Size small; ears long, broad; muzzle, legs, and tail 

 long and slender. 



Color. Above grizzled gray, darkest on back; sides, pectoral 

 band, and upper parts of limbs pale fulvous; chin and throat white; 

 under parts mixed white and buff; tail like back, terminal fourth 

 black; ear pale fulvous and iron gray, the margin white. 



FIG. LXIII. Vi 



LS MACROTIS. BlG-EARED KIT FOX. 



Measurements. Total length, 850; tail vertebrae, 290; hind foot, 

 no; ear from crown, 68. Skull: occipito-nasal length, 103; greatest 

 zygomatic breadth, 58.2; mastoid breadth, 38.7; interorbital con- 

 striction, 19.8; across postorbital processes, 26.3; palatal length, 55.7; 

 length of nasals, 40; length of upper tooth row, 51.7 ; length of lower 

 jaw, 83.8; height at coronoid process, 27; length of lower tooth 

 row, 57.8. 



The Gray Foxes, included in the present genus, are represented in 

 North America by a number of species and races varying considerably 

 in size, the smallest not being more than half that of the well-known 

 eastern Gray Fox. They are very handsome animals, but not pos- 

 sessed of the cunning equal to that of the Red Fox, and in the struggle 

 for existence seem, in their diminishing numbers, to be giving way to 

 their more fit relative. 



