TWO FASHIONABLE FURS 209 



together, but that the blue variety was very rare." Again, 

 in answer to inquiries on this subject, Dr. Einar Lonnberg, 

 of Upsala, whose observations are based on personal ex- 

 perience, wrote to me as follows : — 



"The 'blue' foxes are uniformly dark-coloured summer 

 and winter, and do not change to white at any time. In 

 the summer they are very dark — dark brown, in fact ; in 

 winter they are also dark, but more bluish. The indi- 

 viduals which turn white in winter are during the summer 

 ashy grey on the upper-parts and limbs, but have the tail, 

 under-parts, more or less of the flanks, and the ears and 

 muzzle white. The distribution of the grey and white is, 

 however, subject to individual variation. The ' blue ' fox 

 is, in fact, merely an individual variety of the white one. 

 Both breed together, and sometimes there are dark and 

 light individuals in the same litter. A friend of mine 

 observed on Bear Island a pair in which the female was 

 white and the male blue. In Iceland it is stated that all 

 the Arctic foxes are blue." 



More precise information is required on the subject of 

 their interbreeding, but it is quite certain that the blue fox 

 and white fox of the furrier are only individual phases of 

 the winter coat of a single species of fox. 



Although it is stated that white specimens are occa- 

 sionally met with in summer, the white phase of the Arctic 

 fox (as the species is called) normally assumes a dark 

 coat in summer. The difference between the winter and 

 summer coats of this phase of the species is well illustrated 

 by a couple of specimens which have recently been placed 

 in the central hall of the Natural History branch of the 

 British Museum. In the case containing the mountain- 

 hare, ptarmigan, stoat, and weasel in their white winter 

 dress has been introduced a specimen of the Arctic fox in 



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