o 



6 Bangs — Tlie Newfoundland Otter and Red Fox. 



striction behind postorbital processes IS. 8; distance across postorbital 

 process 32.4; last upper molar to end of pterygoid process 26 ; foramen 

 magnum to end of palate 46.4 ; greatest length of single half of mandible 

 6.Z. 



9 old adult (topotype) No. 6966; basal length 95.4; zygomatic breadth 

 70; mastoid breadth 63; interorbital constriction 22.8 ; greatest constric- 

 tion behind postorbital processes 19.4 ; distance across postorbital pro- 

 cess 33.6 ; last upper molar to end of pterygoid process 26.8 ; foramen 

 magnum to end of palate 46.6 ; greatest length of single half of mandible 

 65. S. 



Remarks. — The characters that separate Lutra hudsonica and Lutra 

 degener are constant and well marked so far as my series goes. I have 

 fine skins and skulls of L. hudsonica from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 

 Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, but unfortunately have seen but 

 one skull, an imperfect one, from Labrador, though otter are common 

 there. 



I believe the Newfoundland otter is an island species, though I cannot 

 he sure of this; possibly it occurs also in Labrador, as otter might easily 

 swim the distance that separates Newfoundland from the continent if 

 they so chose. 



Henry Reeks, however, says of the Newfoundland otter:* "Both 

 traders and settlers make two varieties or species (?) of the Newfound- 

 land otters: one, which is called the 'country otter,' and principally fre- 

 quents inland brooks and rivers, has the fur of a beautiful shining dark 

 liver-brown, almost black on the back, while the other variety, called 

 the 'salt-water' otter, is said (for I was unfortunate in not getting a 

 specimen) to have the fur of a rusty brown c dor and to be considerably 

 larger than the 'country otter,' although the skin is not nearly so valu- 

 able, rarely realizing more than three or four dollars, whereas good skins 

 of the smaller and darker variety fetch from five to seven dollars." 



Perhaps the 'salt-water' otter may be true L. hudsonica that occa- 

 sionally visits the shores of Newfoundland and does not intermingle with 

 the resident form there, L. degener. 



Vulpes deletrix sp. nov. 



Type from Bay St. George, Newfoundland. No. 6967, $ middle-aged 

 adult, coll. of E. A. and 0. Bangs. Collected April 24, 1897, by Ernest 

 Doane. 



General characters. — Size rather small ; tail short; hind foot very large; 

 feet and hands densely hairy beneath and armed with extremely long 

 and stout claws; ears large, very woolly, and rounder than the ears of 

 V. pennsylvanica. Color very variable ; in ' red phase' pale ocher yellow 

 (like the prairie fox). Skull but slightly different, from that of V. pennsyl- 

 vanica; dentition very strong, the carnassial tooth in particular being very 

 large. 



* Zoologist, March, 1870, page 2037. 



