132 



THE HOARY FOX. 



CANI8 CANUS. 



Vulpes canus, Blanford, Journal Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xlvi. part ii. 

 p. 321 (1877); Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 392; 

 Blanford, Fauna Brit. India, Mamm. p. 150. 



THIS is again a form from South-western Asia. It is a very small 

 species, and is represented in our National Collection by a single skin, 

 which came from Beloochistan. By the kindness of Mr. Blanford, we 

 have had the opportunity of examining two others : one of these 

 and the British-Museum specimen constitute the types of the species. 

 The British-Museum skin is figured in our Plate XXXI. Nothing is 

 known of the habits of this animal. 



Blanford gives * the length of the head and body as 18 inches, and 

 that of the tail, without the hair, as 12 \ to 13 inches. 



His description of the colour is as follows : "Ashy grey, blackish 

 on the back and sometimes with a rufescent tinge, white below. The 

 basal half of the dorsal fur is dark purplish grey in some skins, the 

 distal half grey or rufescent ; in other cases the hairs are light ashy 

 grey almost throughout, the longer and coarser hairs have white rings 

 near the end, and black tips on the back. The long tail-hairs are ashy 

 near the base, white near the ends, the tips black, the black tips being 

 more developed posteriorly so that the tail has a black tip, though less 

 defined than in V. lengalensis. Ears grey outside, creamy white on 

 the margin and within ; forehead rufous ; a dusky or black spot on each 

 side of the muzzle. Outside of the limbs dark rufous or dark ashy, 

 almost black in some cases." All that we would remark in addition is 



* Op. tit. p. 151. 



