FAUNA AMERICANA. 91 



Species. 



12. Canis velox, Say. (Long's Exped. to the 

 Rocky Mountains, v. 1. p. 486.) 



Char. Essent. Head above ferruginous-brown, 

 intermixed with gray ; fur fulvous ; hair whitish 

 at base, then black, gray, and brown in succession. 



Dimensions. Total length of the animal not 

 more than one half that of the red fox, (C.fulvus, 

 Desni.) length of the cranium, four inches three- 

 tenths ; distance between the tips of the superior 

 orbitar processes, one inch ; between the tempo- 

 ral crests at the coronal suture, half an inch. 



Description. The hair is fine, dense and soft ; 

 a brownish dilated line passes from the eye near- 

 ly to the nostrils; margin of the upper lip, white; 

 orbits gray ; margin of the ears, excepting at tip, 

 white; the inner side broadly marginated with 

 w hite hairs ; the neck above has longer hairs, of 

 which the black and gray portions are more con- 

 spicuous; beneath the head, pure white; the 

 body slender, and tail rather long, cylindrical 

 and black. 



Habit. This little animal runs with extraor- 

 dinary velocity, so much so, that when at full 

 speed its course has been b}^ the hunters com- 

 pared to the flight of a bird. Like the cor sac of 

 Asia, it burrows in the earth, in a country totally 

 destitute of trees and bushes, and is not known 

 to frequent forest districts. 



