668 MERRIAM 



foundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia foxes may be certainly distin- 

 guished. Collectively they all differ iromfjilviis in slightly broader 

 rostrum and decidedly larger teeth, as pointed out under rubricosa. 



Measurements. — Type specimen ( 9 ) : total length 959 ; tail ver- 

 tebrae 336; hind foot 161' (from Bangs). 



VULPES ALASCENSIS sp. nov. 



Type from Andreafski, Alaska. No. 21420 [old ^], U. S. Nat- 

 ional Museum. Feb., 1880, E. W. Nelson. Orig. No. iSo. 



Range. — Northern Alaska — limits unknown. 



Characters. — A large long-tailed red fox closely related to V. vulpes 

 of Scandinavia and Siberia, and also to rubricosa and batigsi of Nova 

 Scotia and Labrador. Color golden fulvous; tail very lo7tg ; ears 

 small ; black of feet greatly restricted ; pelage of neck and anterior 

 part of back long and full, almost forming a ruff ; pelage of posterior 

 part of back and rump shorter and coarser. 



Color. — Face and head grizzled fulvous and buffy, strongly rusty on 

 top of nose and around eyes, paler on cheeks and forehead ; upper- 

 parts fulvous or golden fulvous, much like Massachusetts specimens 

 of V. fulviis but color deeper, particularly on top of neck and along 

 dorsal line of back ; rump and hind back grizzled ; black of feet greatly 

 restricted, that of forefeet not covering whole top of foot and not reach- 

 ing above carpus ; that of ^hind feet confined to median part of upper 

 surface, spreading slightly over base of toes. Tail very long and 

 bushy, fulvous like back, with the usual admixture of black hairs. 



Skull. — Broad and relatively short, with broadly spreading zygomata, 

 short and rather narrow rostrum (strongly constricted laterally on plane 

 of 2d or between 2d and 3d premolars), and short upturned nose. 

 Compared with its nearest geographical neighbors, harri?7iani and 

 kenaiensis, the posterior part of the skull is much the same, while the 

 anterior or facial part is greatly reduced (the rostrum being smaller, 

 narrower, more constricted laterally), the nose more upturned, and the 

 carnassial and molar tooth smaller. Compared with kenaiensis the 

 carnassials, ist upper molar, and 2d lower molar are decidely smaller. 

 Compared with harri7nani the carnassials and molars are smaller 

 and the anterointernal cusp of the upper carnassial is more anterior 

 and less protruding laterally. Closely related to rubricosa and ba?igsi, 

 with which it may intcrgrade ; resembles rubricosa closely in size and 

 proportions, but differs in having the rostrum slightly broader and more 

 constricted laterally, the bullae slightly larger (usually), the upper lat- 

 eral series of teeth heavier [lower series essentially as in rubricosa'\. 



