240 



THE COAL FOX. 



Vulpes alopex. 



Charbonnier of Burgundy? 



PLATE XXL 



By naturalists, of late date, considered as a mere 

 variety of colour, and confounded with the brant 

 fox. Mr. Frederick Cuvier distinguished it solely 

 by the fur on the back being furnished with more 

 long hairs tipped with black than are found in the 

 common fox. Mr. Pennant makes similar remarks, 

 and adds a black tip to the tail, a character most 

 sportsmen assert to be found in many English foxes. 

 This assertion is not however quite correct ; for, of 

 the hundreds of foxes and skins examined by us, 

 although there be many with the end of the tail 

 apparently black, we have not found one where 

 there was not a white tip within the black ; although 

 most foxes occasionally pull out the hairs at the end 

 of the tail. Now, with regard to the coal fox, the 

 tip of the tail is entirely of a sooty black. The ani- 

 mal is in stature only equal to our smallest race of 

 cur foxes ; the forehead is narrower, and the back 



