706 PROCEEDINGS OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvm. 



AViilcs Strait, whero some tit'ty .speclinens were taken during their 

 long stay. 



Other expeditions in the polar regions have met with many white 

 and a few bhie foxes. General Greely obtained ))iit tAvelve of the 

 former, and he gives latitude 83° 24' north as the most northerly 

 range of this animal, which is there indigenous. He says that the 

 white fox of the (IriiHiell Land section is much more wary than that 

 of a few degrees of latitude farther south, and therefore very difficult 

 to appi'oach for a shot, while all l)ut one example rejected man}" 

 poisoned baits set for them. Mr. Peterson, the well known P^skimo 

 interpreter of several expeditions, asserted that this species made 

 caches of food for winter consumption. Captain Lockwood found 

 several fox lairs. In one hidden rock nook he found fifty dead lem- 

 mings, in others (sand and earth covered) there were from twenty to 

 thirty lenmiings, while in a hollow he discovered a cache containing 

 part of a polar hare and the wings of a young brent goose and the 

 usual lemming. Some lairs appeared to be occupied from year to 

 year. McClintock writes that in March, 1859, at Toi-t Kennedy, he 

 shot a couple of white foxes that came playing around the dogs, 

 and, conscious of their superior speed, were very impudent, snapping 

 at the dogs' tails, and passing almost under their noses. The captain 

 intended both foxes for the mess ta)>le, but the dogs anticipated him in 

 respect to one. The flesh of the other proved insipid, but decidedly 

 better to the taste than the tinned meat. 



When comparatively scarce, or rather less nmnerous than usual, as 

 sometimes happens in their native habitat, it is a rare thing to meet 

 with any foxes in the interior. It is said that a litter consists gen- 

 erally of three and four, seldom live, and when l)()rn the young are 

 blind and helpless, ])ut they soon acquire sight and gradually increas- 

 ing strength, and tiiey also become active and very plavful. The 

 adult fox is seemingly stupid and is easily captured ])y both Indians 

 and Eskimos. It lives on mice, lenunings, birds, and carrion. 



During the period of twenty-five years, 1853 to 1877, the company 

 sold in London a total of 121,1(H) skins, or an average of 1,9*!4 a year. 

 The three best sales were in 1856, 1864, and 18(!1), which amounted 

 to 10,811, 12,242, and 12,088, respectivel}^, and the three lowest were 

 in 1855, with 1,897, 1859, with 1,577, and 1871, with 1,805 skins. In 

 1902, 8,487 skins, and in 1908, 10,717 skins were sold at the same place. 



If the Hudson Bay :ind Canadian arctic blue fox ))e a variet}' of 

 Vnlpes Ia</<>j>Ns, wdiich I certainly dou])t, the stone-l)lue fox of the 

 Pribilof Islands and other Alaskan islands, even in originally intro- 

 duced cases, is surely entitled to specific rank. Blue foxes occur ver}' 

 sparingly on the northern, Hudson Bay, and La})rador coasts. We 

 secured very few skins tliereof at Fort Anderson. It is, indeed, a 

 very rare inland visitor. Mr. Bernard K. lioss writes that up to the 



