1G0 BULLETIN OF THE 



differences in the color and texture of the fur, to which he and others 

 have called attention, seems the most tangible difference, though not one 

 of high value. Several specimens from different parts of Europe, in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, show that some of the other differences 

 specified by Professor Baird, particularly that of the form of the tail and 

 the greater length of its hairs in the American animal, are far from con- 

 stant, there being no such differences in this respect between them and 

 others from the United States, as has been claimed. One of the European 

 has the tail remarkably full, the longer hairs being fully an inch longer, 

 instead of an inch shorter, as according to authors they should be, than 

 average American specimens. Prince Maximilian has also observed that 

 this distinction in regard to the form of the tail is inconstant and invalid.* 

 While, as Professor Baird remarks, Iuiropean specimens can be readily sep- 

 arated from American, as in the case of most species commonly admitted as 

 identical on the two continents, it does not follow necessarily that they are 

 specifically distinct, since in very many species of animals specimens from not 

 very remote localities can be similarly distinguished, where naturalists never 

 question their identity. The very exact agreement in the southward dis- 

 tribution of the red fox in the Old World and in the New, — their south- 

 ern limitation on both continents, as nearly as can be judged, coinciding 

 with the same isotherm, — and the occurrence of the same varieties, as 

 " cross," " black," and " silver," and in about the same relative proportion 

 of individuals, if indicating anything, seems to point to their identity. In 

 considering this subject it is necessary to take into account the remark- 

 able tendency to variation presented by other members of this family 

 in a state of nature, and the readiness with which widely distinct breeds are 

 developed under domestication in the common dog. The European speci- 

 mens to which we have referred differ considerably among themselves, these 

 differences being in some cases greater than between some of them and the 

 average type of the American animal. I hence do not hesitate to consider 

 the North American red fox as identical with the common red fox of 

 Europe, the average amount of difference being not greater than might 

 be anticipated in specimens from so distant localities. 



5. Vulpes virginianus De Kay. Gray Fox. Though es- 

 sentially southern, this species is said by De Kay to be rather com- 

 mon in the southern counties of New York, and particularly on Long 

 Island ;t Audubon and Bachman give it, as not uncommon in the 

 vicinity of Albany, N. Y., but :i^ scarce in New England, and state 



' Arch, fiir Naturgesoh., XXVII, Theil 1, p. 259. 

 I /. iJil. of New York, Vol. I, p. 46. 



