NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 199 



doubtless thus destroyed in a single season." Some unusual 

 condition added to these efforts at "control" might conceivably 

 wipe out the remnant of these foxes in the San Joaquin Valley. 

 However, "in the Mohave and Colorado deserts, which are now 

 remote from human activity and where the conditions of the 

 soil and the lack of water will long prevent future settlement, 

 it is probable that" the race arsipus will endure indefinitely. 



The most northerly ranging race of the desert fox is neva- 

 densis, concerning which Vernon Bailey (1936) writes: "These 

 graceful little foxes have been found in the valleys of northern 

 Nevada, southwestern Idaho, and southeastern Oregon, not 

 far beyond the limits of Lower Sonoran Zone valleys, where 

 the species generally ranges." Specimens are mentioned from 

 the Owyhee Valley as the only ones available from Oregon, 

 but it "may be looked for in the Alvord and adjoining valleys 

 that open out into northern Nevada." He says nothing of 

 their present status there but surmises that they will soon be 

 gone. He further testifies to their adaptability as pets, on 

 account of their gentleness, their intelligence and affectionate 

 behavior, and their ready confidence and alertness. "Why 

 not," he asks, "keep such animals instead of cats and dogs and 

 save a few from extermination?" 



THE AMERICAN WOLVES 



Wolves are of boreal distribution in both the Old World and 

 the New, originally ranging without interruption from western 

 Europe eastward to the Pacific Ocean in the former and from 

 Alaska to the Atlantic coast of eastern North America in the 

 latter area. Pocock (1935) in a recent paper regards them as 

 of a single species with local races, which appears to be a 

 logical course, since all are much alike. Even the narrow 

 Bering Straits, closed by ice during part of the year, probably 

 form no insuperable barrier to an occasional crossing. In 

 North America wolves are found from the Arctic regions 

 southward to the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican tableland, 

 but in a recent review Goldman (1937) regards the most 

 southern or red wolf as a separate species. Exclusive of this 

 and its two subspecies, there are at present recognized no less 

 than 20 local races in this area, distinguished for the most part 

 by minor characters of the skull and teeth; all these are treated 

 as subspecies of Canis lupus of Europe. It is often said that 



