656 



APPENDIX. 



[No. V. 



Canis Fulvus. Red Fox. 



The Red Fox is the most frequently met with, and approaches nearest to the European 

 though differing much from it. It is of slighter make and taller on the legs ; the 

 visage is long and sharp ; the ears erect and pointed, their outside black, and inside 

 white ; its general colour is bright ferruginous on the head, back and sides, but less 

 brilliant towards the tail ; under the chin it is white ; the throat and neck dark 

 grey ; and this colour is continued along the first part of the belly in a stripe of 

 less width than on the breast ; the under parts towards the tail are very pale red ; the 

 fronts of the fore legs and the feet are black, and the fronts of the lower parts of the 

 hind legs are also black ; the tail is very bushy, but less ferruginous than the body, the 

 hairs mostly terminated with black, and more so towards the extremity than near the 

 root, giving the whole a dark appearance ; a few of the hairs at the end are lighter, 

 but it is not tipped with white. The above description of the colour of the body 

 and tail is from a skin belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, which may be con- 

 sidered as in its best state ; in the specimen sent home by the Expedition, and which 

 was probably killed in the latter part of the winter, the fur on the body is longer, 

 and has lost all its brilliancy of colour ; the whole appears to be in preparation for 

 change, the upper parts of the legs having already lost the long hairs and exhibiting 

 a short red coat, which is of course only beginning to grow. The fur of the skin 

 which has been described is long, though not so extended as in the winter specimen ; 

 from the appearance of which it may be concluded, that the animal, when it loses its 

 winter covering, does not, till after some interval, obtain the length of fur which is 

 requisite to the skin in a commercial view. The specimen, having been set up, stands 

 eighteen inches high ; it is near two feet in length, and the tail measures sixteen 



inches. 



Cams Decussatus. Cross Fox. 



The specimen received from Captain Franklin and that from the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, nearly correspond ; the colours of the latter are rather more brilliant and 

 darker ; it also appears to have been taken from a somewhat larger animal. The 

 Cross Fox, in comparison with the Red, is shorter on its legs, and has a larger and 

 longer body, being altogether a stronger animal. The front of the head is grey, com- 

 posed of black and white hairs, the latter predominating on the forehead ; the ears 

 are large, covered with short soft black fur behind, and within with long yellowish 

 hairs ; the back of the neck and shoulders are pale ferruginous, crossed with dark 

 stripes, one extending from the head to the back, the other passing the first at right 

 angles over the shoulders ; the rest of the back is grey composed of black fur tipped 



grey 



tipped 



