106 THE KIT FOX. 



Baird describes the ears as being of a uniform brownish yellow 

 externally, and yellowish white within. He found the hairs of the tail 

 less annulated than those of the trunk and flanks, and blacker at their 

 tips, the blackness augmenting towards the tip of the tail, which appears 

 to be constantly devoid of the white termination almost always to be 

 found in the Common Pox. 



Its specific distinctness from the latter animal is unmistakable, and 

 it is constantly very much smaller in size. 



Habitat. North-western America. 



The skins in the British Museum are imperfect, so that the length of 

 the limbs could not be measured. Baird gives the following dimensions 

 in inches : 



Length from nose to tail 24 



Tail to end of vertebrae 9 



Height of ear 1| 



In two British-Museum skins I found the dimensions, in centimeters, 

 to be as follows : 



Length of head and body 65 or 75 



tail 29-5 29 



Cranial and Dental Characters. 



We have not had an opportunity of examining any skulls of this 

 species, but we learn from Professor Baird * what we might expect, 

 namely, " that it exhibits a very close resemblance to that of the Red 

 Pox." He further tells us that the temporal crests do not approach each 

 other so much as in the latter animal. The postorbital processes also 

 appear to be rather shorter relatively and less obtuse, while the distance 

 between the zygomata is wider and the forehead rather flatter. 



The dentition is quite like that of the Common Pox. 



Baird gives a very good representation of the skull seen laterally, 

 and both above and below ; it does not, however, justify his assertion 



* Op. dt. p. 135. 



