152 



and with more or less developed white tips. The ears are black 

 or dark brown outside except near the base, whitish within and on 

 the edges. Face rufous, especially round the eye ; usually a dark 

 spot in front of each eye. The inside of the fore limbs, and 

 especially the whole anterior surface of the hind limbs to the toes 

 whitish or white, hence the name. Tail above the same colour as 

 the back, less rufous on the sides and below, many of the hairs 

 with dusky tips ; terminal portion of tail pure white. 



In spring, when the hair is worn, the dark underfur is exposed 

 on the back, and the whole animal is greyer. The lower parts are 

 probably white in summer. 



Dimensions. Head and body 19 to 22 inches, tail with hair at 

 the end 12 to 16, without 11 to 14, ear outside 3 to 3-5, tarsus 

 and hind foot 4 to 4|. An average-sized female skull is 4'2 inches 

 long (basal length) and 2-4 broad ; a large male skull 4-45 by 2-65. 

 Weight about the same as that of V. bengalensis, or rather more ; 

 the specimen of which Jerdon gives the weight as 5 Ibs. was pro- 

 bably small. 



Varieties. I am inclined to class together the three forms dis- 

 tinguished by Blyth because, after seeing a great many specimens 

 of V. leucopus from Sind and Rajputana, I am unable to find any 

 characters by which the small Afghan fox, V. griffitJii, and the 

 Punjab fox, V. pusilla, can be distinguished. Both are probably, 

 as a rule, rather larger, but the difference is trifling ; and a skull of 

 V. griffithi from Kandahar, in the British Museum, measures 4-3 

 inches in basal length, and is of the same size as a rather large 

 skull of V. leucopus from Etijputana. I am indebted to Mr. Theo- 

 bald for two specimens of a fox, which I believe is typical V. pusilla, 

 from the Potwar in the northern Punjab, and except a trifling 

 difference in size, both agree perfectly with skins of V. leucopus 

 from Sind, whilst they are the same size as large specimens of 

 V. leucopus from Bajputana. 



There is some confusion as to V. griffithi, for whilst it is founded 

 on the smaller fox of Afghanistan, the dimensions given by Hutton 

 (J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 344), head and body 2 feet, tail 17 inches, 

 height at shoulder 14 to 15 agree better with the larger form. 



The species described by me in 1875 (A. M. N. H. ser. 4, xvi, 

 p. 310, and ' Eastern Persia,' ii, p. 39) as V. persica is possibly 

 identical with V. leucopus, though larger. 



Distribution. V. leucopus inhabits the dry and semi-desert regions 

 of Western India, Sind, Cutch, Bajputana, the Punjab, and the 

 North-west Provinces as far east as Fatigarh. It is also found in 

 Baluchistan and Afghanistan, and seems widely distributed in 

 South-western Asia, as I have specimens from Muscat in Arabia. 



Habits. This is essentially a desert animal, and in India keeps 

 much to sandy wastes, where it appears to live chiefly on the 

 sand-rats, Gerbillus hurriance. Jerdon remarks that the present 

 species keeps to a different kind of ground from that inhabited by 

 V. bengalensis, but in Sind both are common on the waste land 

 with scattered bushes that covers so large a portion of the province. 



