FOX. 



525 



American deciduous shrubs long introduced into onr 

 gardens. Class and order Polyandria Digyma, and 

 natural order Hamamalidece. Generic dun-actor : 

 calyx bell-shaped, truncated, whole, persisting; corolla 

 none ; stamens filaments thickened above ; anthers 

 erect, quadrangular, and two-celled ; styles two, avvl- 

 like ; stigma simple ; capsule hard, two-celled, cells 

 two-valved ; seeds single and bony. These orna- 

 mental plants thrive in the borders of moor earth, and 

 are increased by layers. 



FOX (Vulpes). ' A genus of mammalia belonging 

 to the sub-order or section Cnrnlvora of Cuvier's great 

 order Carnassier in the Animal Kingdom. They are 

 usually considered as only a variety of the extensive 

 genus Canis (dog), which, in the systems, comprises 

 the dogs properly so called, and along with them the 

 wolves, and the jackals, all considered as dogs ; and 

 also the foxes, and the ferine, together with the wild 

 dog of the Cape, which last has in fact many of the 

 characters of the hyaenas, though its teeth are said 

 to be differently constructed. 



General!}' speaking, foxes do not differ much in 

 their organisation from dogs. Like these, they have 

 six incisive teeth in each jaw ; one canine on each 

 side of both, six cheek teeth above and seven below 

 in each side ; the first four in the lower jaw and first 

 three in the upper small, but with trenchant edges. 

 The great carnivorous bruising teeth, situated behind 

 the trenchant ones, with two points and a tubercle on 

 the inside in the upper jaw ; but the lower jaw with 

 the last lobe of each entirely tubercular. The last 

 two teeth in both sides of each jaw wholly tubercular 

 on their upper surfaces, and thus indicating that the 

 animals are not in the highest degree carnivorous, 

 but can subsist upon other aliment besides flesh. 

 The foxes have also, li"ke the dogs, five toes on the 

 fore feet, and four on the hind ; and the females have 

 mammae both on the belly and in the groin. 



The distinguishing characters of the foxes from the 

 dogs, and from all the other sections of the genus, 

 are : the pupils of the eyes closing on a vertical line, 

 though opening nearly to a circle ; the tail longer 

 and much more bushy or thickly covered with fur; 

 the skin altogether covered with finer and closer fur, 

 in some of the varieties of great beauty and esteemed 

 at a high price ; and the muzzle more elongated and 

 pointed at least than any of the others in a wild state. 

 The incisive teeth in the upper jaw are also more 

 furrowed ; they all have a foetid and offensive, though 

 peculiar, smell, and they burrow more habitually in 

 the earth. Perhaps we may add that their canine 

 teeth are more keenly pointed, that those in the 

 lower jaw are larger in proportion to those in the 

 upper, that they are more advanced in the jaw, and 

 stand more apart from each other at the points. From 

 this structure of the most efficient part of the mouth 

 in killing their prey, it follows almost by necessary 

 consequence that the foxes inflict a mortal wound by 

 a single bite, and do not mangle their prey like some 

 of the others. The smallness of the muzzle, the 

 nearness of the deadly weapons to its point, the 

 length of the jaws, and the consequent velocity with 

 which the large and keenly-pointed canines in the 

 lower jaw ran be moved, enable them to reach the 

 vulnerable part of their prey more readily, and inflict 

 their wound more speedily and certainly. 



It is in their manners, however, that the foxes are 

 most distinguished from all other canine animals. 

 Many of the others are nocturnal as well as the foxes, 



but none of them have that form of nocturnal eye 

 which enables the owner to see prey when above it; 

 and thus the eyes alone of the foxes would point out 

 their great propensity to robbing a hen roost, or seiz- 

 ing pheasants and other gallinaceous birds on their 

 porches, when perching near the ground. Foxes are 

 also more decidedly dwellers in holes of their own 

 excavation, or " earths," as they are technically called, 

 (han any others of the family, though the whole do 

 reside in dens and hiding places, except when they 

 are abroad hunting. The structure and formation of 

 the eye, which we have noticed, and also this mode 

 of lodging,, indicate, if not a cowardly, at least a 

 cautious animal, which will not attack any creature 

 that may stand on the defensive. The softness of 

 the fur too and the bushiness of the tail all indicate a 

 capacity of proceeding silently through brakes and 

 bushes, so as to come upon the prey unawares, and 

 kill it by the rapid snapping bite, before it is aroused 

 either for escape or for defence. Another character 

 which, among the whole race, is peculiar to the foxes, 

 is that of being quite solitary in their operations, and 

 never joining for any common purpose where num- 

 bers can make up for the want of individual strength. 

 We know little of dogs in a state of nature, as may 

 be seen by referring to the article DOG in this Cyclo- 

 paedia; but it is probable that in this state they inva- 

 riably help one another in cases of need. This is the 

 known practice both of the wolf and the jackal, the 

 first of which sometimes make attacks in very formi- 

 dable troops, and the latter, though not so bold and 

 ferocious, are generally found yelping and prowling 

 for their food in company with each other. But it 

 does not appear that the barking of foxes is ever to 

 be viewed in the light of an assembling call. In the 

 season, it may be calling and answering between 

 mate and mate, and at. other times it may be done 

 with the intention of alarming the prey, and causing 

 it to make so much noise that the acute ear of the 

 fox may hear it in the dark and steal upon it. There 

 seems to be in this habit enough to entitle foxes to 

 separate consideration as a subgenus, if not a separate 

 genus from all the rest; because it indicates that 

 foxes act a part in the economy of nature which could 

 not be exactly supplied by any or even by all the rest 

 of the race, if the foxes should become extinct. 



This, if we could arrive at it with knowledge 

 sufficiently minute and accurate, is perhaps the real 

 ground upon which the distinctions of genera should 

 be placed ; because the part which it plays in nature 

 is the ground upon which to estimate the real value 

 of any animal ; and if this could be made the founda- 

 tion of our systems of classing, then those systems 

 would have some better claims to the merit ot being 

 natural than they have even when they are arranged 

 most strictly according to the anatomical structure, 

 both external and internal. That there is much in 

 the organisation we do not deny ; but still organisa- 

 tion is not life, and therefore when we have studied 

 that even to the utmost, there is still something in 

 the animal which is not exhausted, but which claims 

 our inquiry, and is in all probability more fitted for 

 rewarding it than even the other. 



Foxes are found in many parts of the world ; but 

 they are most abundant in temperate and cold climates, 

 especially the latter ; so that there are probably more 

 foxes in the cold parts of the northern latitudes of 

 both continents than there arc in all the rest of the 

 world taken together. The character of their cover- 



