CANID/R 217 



A very few Gray Wolves live in the high Sierras and in the 

 mountains of northeastern California. I do not know of any 

 California example in any museum or private collection. 



Genus Vulpes FiNSCH. (Fox.) 

 Pupils of eye elliptical ; tail long and bushy ; upper incisors 

 rather small, not distinctly lobed; teeth otherwise similar to those 

 of Canis; temporal crests low, parallel, not widely separated; up- 

 per postorbital process small, the corresponding process on the 

 zygomatic arch obsolete; angular process of lower jaw short, nar- 

 row, curved. 



Dental formula, I, 3 — 3; C, i — i ; P, 4 — 4; M, 2 — 3X2=42. 



Vulpes macrotis Merriam. (Great — ear.) 



LONG-EARED FOX. 



Small; ears large, color very pale, above pale grayish buff; 

 chest and fore legs buff; remainder of lower parts buffy white; tip 

 of tail and a small spot on upper side near base chestnut or sepia. 



Length about 760 mm. (30 inches) ; tail vertebrse 290 

 (11.40); hind foot 120 (4.75); ear from crown 95' (3-75)- 

 Wetght four pounds. 



Type locality. Riverside, California. 



Long-eared Foxes are a desert species. The type came from 

 the western edge of their range. They are not very common in 

 any part of their range. They are found in southwestern Arizona,, 

 in the Colorado and Mohave Deserts and a few straggle through: 

 the San Gorgonio Pass west and south. They live in open, nearly- 

 level localities, quite the reverse of the habit of our other Foxes. 

 They live in burrows, these often having several entrances. They 

 are nocturnal and crepuscular, but are often abroad some time af- 

 ter sunrise. They are not hard to trap. I do not remember hear- 

 ing any bark or other vocal sound that I could attribute to them. 

 Their food seems to be the small rodents living in the region that 

 they inhabit. I have caught young of this species about the mid- 



