DESCRIPTION OF A NEW FOX FROM SOUTHERN 



CALIFORNIA. 



Vtilpes mac rot is sp. nov. 



LONG-EARED FOX. 



By Dk. C. Hart Merriam. 



(Read Feb. ii, 1888.; 



The fox which is the subject of the present communication 

 was killed at Riverside, San Bernardino county, California, 

 November i, 1SS5. It differs so strikingly from the other North 

 American foxes that detailed comparison is unnecessary. It is a 

 small animal, the single specimen before me being a little lesf- 

 in size than the Kit Fox ( V^ulpes velox) , agreeing in this respec: 

 with the California Island Fox ( Urocyon littoralis) , from which 

 latter animal, however, it differs generically. Its most notice- 

 able external peculiarity consists in its large ears, which character 

 alone suffices to distinguish it from its North American congeners. 



It is not a little surprising that so large a mammal as a fox, 

 inhabiting so well explored a region as California, should have 

 escaped notice till the present time ; and the fact is still more 

 remarkable from the circumstance that the animal here described 

 differs so notably from its nearest relatives. For these reasons, 

 and others derived from a study of the specimen with a view to 

 the known laws of geographical variation, I am led to the belief 

 that it is a Mexican species, finding its northern limit in southern 

 California. The place where the present specimen was killed 

 (Riverside, San Bernardino county) is only a hundred miles 

 from the Mexican boundary. 



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