THE FLESH-EATING PREDATORY MAMMALS 123 



assumed in summer by the Arctic foxes. This tint soon warms 

 into yellowish-brown, and by the time the fox is a year old has it 

 developed the colours given in the foregoing description. 



The fox, like some other species of dogs, possesses a scent 

 gland, which is situated under the tail, near the anus, and which 

 secretes a foetid sebaceous substance. This gland is present in both 

 sexes, but is a little more highly developed in the male. The urine 

 of the fox has the same strong and unpleasant scent as the sub- 

 caudal secretion. Glands, and nasty odours communicated to 

 the excreta, are a constantly recurring feature in the Carnivora, 

 reaching, perhaps, its highest point of development in the skunk, 

 a member of the Weasel tribe. In civets the strong odour is 

 agreeable to man, and not absolutely repellent, as is the case with 

 foxes, cats, and many members of the Weasel family. This stench 

 which attaches itself to the fox provides the means through 

 which he is tracked by the dogs and hunted down. 



No fossil remains of the fox have yet been obtained from 

 Scotland. It is possible, therefore, that the fox may only have 

 penetrated into North Britain since the close of the Glacial 

 period, but its fossil remains have been found in some of 

 the Irish caves, dating from the close of the Pleistocene. 

 In England the creature is one of the oldest of British 

 mammals, and dates from the Pliocene Epoch. In all probability 

 it was here long before the advent of man, and at a time 

 coeval with the sabre-toothed tiger and the huge fauna more 

 characteristic of Eastern Asia and Equatorial Africa. At the 

 present day the fox is found all over England, Scotland,^ 

 Wales, and Ireland. It has probably been affected to some 

 extent by the introduction of foreign breeds from Sweden and 

 Germany. 



Another Instance of the difference between the Fox group and 

 the Wolf group of the genus Canis is that, whereas the domestic 

 dog (which belongs to the Wolf group) will freely interbreed 

 with the wolf or jackal, it generally regards the fox of either sex 



^ Not, however, including the Hebrides, Mull, and almost all the large 

 islands off the west coast of Scotland, except Skye (where it is indigenous). 



