244 THE CROSS-FOX OF EUROPE. 



the breast and belly are pale grey or whitish ; the 

 outside of the ears and the feet black ; and the tail 

 terminates in a milk-white point, in some races 

 preceded by a ring of black more or less in breadth. 

 The largest breeds we have seen were destitute of 

 the black ring, the middle sized, and usually the 

 more grizzled, were provided with it; and Mr. 

 Pennant ascribes to the cur foxes of Wales a black 

 tip altogether, although we recollect formerly to 

 have seen many specimens of a small race in Kent 

 and Dorset without this mark. 



But in England, since foxes have been imported 

 from the continent for sporting purposes, it has be- 

 come impossible to ascertain the varieties formerly 

 noticed. The grisly black-ringed we believe to be 

 from the west of France, and the reddish, without 

 black, indigenous, or from the Flemish and German 

 shores. 



It is needless to enter more in detail on the man- 

 ners of a species so well known, and therefore we 

 proceed to allied species or varieties. 



The Norway Common Fox is paler yellow, with 

 a white tip to the tail, having no black ring. The 

 race is large, of very strong bone, and in shape so 

 lengthened, that it might be called a turnspit 

 fox. 



The Cross-Fox of Europe (Vulpes crucigera), 

 described by Gesner, from a communication received 

 by him in a letter from George Fabricius, together 

 with a figure'. No mention is made of the general 

 colours, which, from the context, appear to have 



