704 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii. 



8,973, and ls7t) with l»,s;-)S. The Toinaiiiinu- ssiles of the period 

 ranocd l»(>tAV('(>n the lowest, 3,17r), in ls54, and S,7()() in 18()5. The 

 average niunher of .silver and blaek foxes for the twenty-five years 

 was 804. Eleven of these years exceeded the average, nanieh': 1853 

 with 847; 1857, 1,072; 1858, 1,()(;(); 185!), 1,104; 1860, 1,177; 1861, 

 1,066; 1868, 1,253; 1869, 1,490 (the niaxiniuni); 1870, 914, and 1877 

 with 971 skins. The year 1875 fell short by 9 skins. From the mini- 

 niuin sale of 390 in 1854, we have had a series of four years l)et\veen 

 that tigure and <!9() in 1871. In 1902 the company sold 1,447 cross, 

 5,912 red, and 280 silver foxes; and in March, 1903, l,97o cross, 6,200 

 i-ed, and 491 silver and l)lack foxes. It may also be of interest to 

 mention that for fifteen (1863-1877) of the often-referred-to twenty- 

 tive-year London sales statement, Mackenzie Kivei* District supplied 

 6,072 cross, 8,034 red, and 1,699 silver and black foxes. For twent}^ 

 3'ears thereof (1858-1877), Athabasca District contril^uted 4,()52 cross, 

 6,582 red, and 1,450 ])lack and silver foxes. All these facts go to 

 estal)lish the cltiim that these foxes shoukl be ckissitied among the 

 "periodical" fur-])earing animals of North America. In the Indian 

 country tributary to Fort Anderson, the several varieties of foxes 

 were fairly al)undant in good years, and this was more so on the 

 lower portion of the river and along the arctic coast betw'een Her- 

 schel Island and Cape Bathurst. 



KIT FOX. 



yiilpcn reJux hcht'K INIciriaiu. 



This fox does not inhabit the territories to the north of the upper 

 Saskatchewan River, nor is it found in New Caledonia, British 

 Columbia. I never obtained an example during two years' resi- 

 dence at Fort St. James, Stuart Lake. I was equally unsuccessful at 

 Cumberland House, lower Saskatchewan, where I was stationed from 

 1889 to 1894. It used to be abundant in the great prairies of the West 

 from that river to the international boundary. Naturalists ma}" be 

 interested in the fact that the total number of skins of this animal 

 sold by the Hudson's Bay Company in London from 1853 to 1877, 

 inclusive, was 117,025. The best 3'ear was 1858, with 10,004, and the 

 poorest, 1864, with 2,410. There are no foxes of this kind entered in 

 their fur catalogues for 1902 and 1903. 



WHITE FOX. 



Vulpe!< Iagopu>< inninfus Merriam. 



The white fox is numerous uiost winter seasons on the arctic coast 

 inhabited by the Eskimos of the Anderson and Mackenzie rivers, 

 and no doul)t more or less so on other American polar shores, and, 

 when this is the case, lumibers are also met with in the timbered 

 regions to the south and on the larger ice-covered lakes and rivers. 



