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U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



the curve, nearly parallel to each other. The distance from the orbit to the ante-orbital foramen 

 is less, and the ante-orbital portion of the molar occupies nearly half the interval, instead of 

 about one-fourth. The upper outline of the muzzle is less deeply indented on the middle of the 

 nasals. The coronoid process is not so high, and its posterior outline is nut hook-shaped and 

 curving backwards, as in V. velox. These differences, however, after all, are not greater than 

 may sometimes be seen in skulls of the same species, and it would not surprise me at all to 

 ascertain, by careful comparison of skulls and skins of both animals, that Vulpes velox and 

 coraac were one and the same species. The skulls of the two certainly resemble each other 

 more closely than those of the American and European red foxes. 



The following description by Maximilian, of the Swift fox, in the Reise in das Tnnere Nord- 

 Amerika, II, 1841-'44, taken from fresh specimens, will serve to throw light upon the history 

 of the animal. 



Canis velox. This species, scarcely half the size of the European ibx, is shaped somewhat 

 like it. The body is slender, as is also the head ; the snout is pointed ; the ear is large, pointed 

 above, coated internally with whitish hairs. The eye is greenish-gray, with darker pupil. 

 The color of whole upper parts and sides is a pleasant pale reddish- yellow, the hairs themselves 

 being reddish-yellow at the roots, reddish-white at the tips, and marked subterminally 

 with a little darker reddish gray-brown. The tail is colored like the body, its tip, however, 

 black. The color of the forehead and upper part of the head is a little darker than that of the 

 back, appearing slightly mixed with grayish-brown ; sides of the snout along the upper jaw, to 

 the eye, blackish, the arch of the nose with a yellowish-red tinge; lower jaw and all under 

 parts, as also the anterior face of the hind legs, whitish. In winter the animal is more of a 

 pale grayish-brown, washed with brighter; all the hairs with decided white tips. 



Measurements. 



The stomach is considerably curved; it was commonly full of fragments of skin, leather with 

 hair, berries, remnants of mice, and grasshoppers, upon which the foxes of the prairies are 

 necessitated to live on in great measure. The liver appears to be divided into seven greater 

 and smaller folds ; in the penis of the male is a bone 1 inch 7& lines long, shaped much like 

 that of the wolf. 



The female brings forth from four to eight young, in holes, in March or April. 



