20 On the Fur-beanng Animals 



manDer. This I attribute to several causes; to their fatness, and 

 to the quantity of food in their stomachs, as lean and hungry 

 foxes die much more quickly than others. The medium in which the 

 poison is given also causes a great difference. When put up in fresh 

 meat a very long time elapses before it operates. 



Wishing to preserve a specimen of the Hare-Indian dog for 

 the Smithsonian Institution, I resolved to kill the animal by poi- 

 sonino". Two grains of strychnia of the first strength were ad- 

 ministered in a piece of fresh meat, at the end of two hours the 

 animal was as well as ever. I then administered one grain more 

 mixed with grease, in two minutes the spasms began, and in five 

 the animal was dead. The first symptoms were a restlessness and 

 contraction of the pupil of the eye, and a flow of saliva from the 

 mouth, violent cramps then ensued, the head shook violently, like 

 a paralytic person, the legs were drawn up, and the spine took a 

 circular shape, a lull of a few seconds then ensued, when after an 

 attack of great violence the animal died. On dissection the blood 

 vessels of the head and neck were found very full of black and 

 clotted blood, such as I have seen in the jugular vein of a person 

 who had died of apoplexy. There was no inflammation of the 

 stomach, and the fatal bait was found in the throat entire. Once 

 seen, the symptoms of poisoning by strychnia are easily recog- 

 nized, and I would be certain now of passing a correct opinion 

 on a case of the kind. 



Dogs take a longer time to expire than either wolves or foxes ; 

 the latter dying most quickly ; in fact according to the ratio of 

 the wild nature of the animal who eats it will be the quickness 

 and violence of its death. 



VuLPES Lagopus. — Arctic Fox. 



Var. A. Lagopus — White Fox. 



Sp. Ch. Smaller than American Red Fox; tail very full and 

 bushy, soles of feet densely furred, tip of nose black. 



Var. B. Borealis. — Blue Fox. 



Sp. Ch. Similar to the white in every particular except that 

 of color. 



Lagopus — White Fox. 



This diminutive Fox which is about as large as a small terrier 

 inhabits the barren grounds and sea coast of this district. On 

 only two occasions have I known it to be caught on the South 



