41 



CHARACTERS OF FOXES 



the Dogs belonging to genera that have ah-eady been separated 

 off. Tims Lycaon is distinctly Thooid. The characters in 

 question are these : — In the Fox series, the frontal air-sinus of 

 the Thooids is absent ; the cranial cavity is pear-shaped, without 

 an abrupt angle coinciding with the supra-orbital sulcus, such as 

 exists in the other group ; the coronoid process of the mandible 

 is rather higher and more turned back in the Foxes, while the 

 depth of the mandible ot the level of the first molar is greater. 



Fig. 209.— Japanese Wolf. Cimis hi>(h>pli)iliu:. ■• J,. iYxom Notmr.) 



To the Fox series belong among others the species C. lagoptts 

 (Arctic Fox), C. zerda (the Fennec), C. chama (the Silver-backed 

 Fox of Africa), 0. virginianus (the Virginian Fox), C. velox (the 

 Kit Fox), and of course the Common Fox of this country. On 

 the other hand, the Dogs proper (such as C. dingo), the Wolves 

 {C. lupus, C. pallipes, C. niger), the Japanese Wolf (C. hodopliylax), 

 the Ked Wolf of America (C. jtihatus), the Jackals (C. aureus, C. 

 anthus, etc.), the Prairie Wolf (C. latrcms), and a number of 

 American forms, such as C. azarae, its close ally C. cancrivorus 

 ( = C. rudis\ C. antarcticus, C. magellanimis, etc., are decidedly 

 Wolves rather than Foxes. 



