264 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.86 



MEPHITIS MEPHITIS ELONGATA Bangs: Florida Skunk 



Five specimens taken in Sevier County at Greenbrier and Pin- 

 nacle are referred to the southern skunk by Komarek and Komarek 

 (1938, p. 150). 



Family CANIDAE 



VTJLPES FULVA FULVA (Desmarest) : Red Fox 



The red fox seems not to have been one of the native mammals 

 of Tennessee, but it has been introduced into various sections of the 

 State at diiferent times by those interested in hunting with hounds. 

 Perrygo was told that red foxes have been liberated recently in a 

 number of localities. Local residents informed him that red foxes 

 were plentiful in the vicinity of Waynesboro, Wayne County, but 

 that they were not common near Crossville, Cumberland County. 



Contrary to general belief, Rhoads (1896, p. 200) states that the 

 red fox was "always numerous in the mountains" but "has spread 

 with increasing population uito west Tennessee, where it was un- 

 known to the early pioneers." Benjamin C. Miles is authority for 

 the statement that this fox was introduced or migrated into Hay- 

 wood and Lauderdale Counties about 1845. 



Komarek and Komarek (1938, p. 150) mention a red fox that 

 was found dead along Dudley Creek, Sevier County. From the 

 Blount County Fox Hunters' Association they obtained informa- 

 tion that in the years 1924 to 1926 approximately 150 red foxes 

 were shipped from Waterloo, Minn., and liberated in the Chilhowee 

 Mountains at several localities in the area between Sevierville and 

 the Tennessee River. 



UROCYON CINEREOARGENTEUS CINEREOARGENTEUS (Schreber): 



Gray Fox 



The gray fox in former times occurred in most sections of the 

 State and is still common in many localities. Hunting with hounds 

 has resulted in the reduction and in some cases the extermination of 

 this fox in the vicinity of thickly settled regions. 



Lt. Henry Timberlake (Williams, 1927, p. 71) mentions that 

 foxes were very abundant in 1762 along the Little Tennessee River 

 near the mouth of Tellico River. Ramsey (1853, p. 206) states 

 that when the first settlers came to the Bluff [Nashville] in 1780 

 foxes were present in the vicinity. 



Under the act of March 31, 1785, of the General Assembly of the 

 State of Franklin, the value of a fox skin was fixed at 1 shilling 3 

 pence (Ramsey, 1853, p. 297). 



