Vol. 35, pp. 53-54 March 20, 1922 



PROCEEDINGS ' 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



OCCURRENCE OF SCOTT'S GRAY FOX IN PROBABLY 

 RECENT CAVE DEPOSITS IN KENTUCKY. 



BY OLIVER P. HAY. 



From Prof. Arthur M. Miller, of the University of Kentucky, 

 the writer has received for examination a skull of a gray fox 

 which was found in the Breck Smith cave, situated about 8 

 miles west of Lexington, Kentucky. From the same cave have 

 been exhumed human remains, bones of a buffalo, bones and 

 teeth of a wolf; from a neighboring cave have been secured 

 remains of a deer and bones and teeth of a bear. It is believed 

 by Professor Miller that the cave had not been entered since the 

 coming of white men. The remains found probably do not 

 date back to the Pleistocene. 



On comparison of the skull with those of specimens of Urocyon cinereo- 

 argenteus from Atlantic coast States and with one from Mt. Carmel, Illinois, 

 important differences were noted. The Kentucky skull is broader at the 

 postorbital processes; these processes are larger and more decurved; the 

 bullae are more flattened, and the teeth are thinner. On comparison with 

 specimens of [7. cinereoargenteus scotti (Mearns) from New Mexico it is 

 found that the latter present characters which are nearly identical with 

 those of the Kentucky specimen. Below are given measurements of the 

 molar teeth and of various parts of the skull of the specimen from Kentucky ; 

 of a skull from New Mexico (No. 35713, U. S. Nat. Mus.); of a skull, some- 

 what injured, from Mt. Carmel, 111. (No. 38503, U. S. Nat. Mus.); and of 

 another from Georgia (No. 3897 U. S. Nat. Mus.). The Kentucky skull 

 agrees with the New Mexican skull in having flattened bullae, large 

 postorbital processes, similarly lyrated temporal ridges, and a deep de- 

 pression at the base of each postorbital process. 



10— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 35, 1922. (53) 



