TWO FASHIONABLE FURS 



To those who are of an observant nature, an afternoon's 

 stroll through any of the fashionable London thoroughfares 

 during any of the past few winters must have revealed 

 the prevalence of a fashion for the beautiful furs respectively 

 known as blue fox and white fox. The skins of these 

 animals are either worn entire as boas (or " necklets," as 

 I am told they are called by ladies) or made up as muffs, 

 and in either condition are strikingly beautiful. Blue fox 

 has long been highly esteemed as a fur, skins selling for 

 between ten and fourteen guineas ten years ago. White 

 fox, on the other hand, has only during the last few years 

 been appreciated as its beauty deserves, the price per skin 

 having risen from between half a crown and sixteen 

 shillings and sixpence during 1 891 to three or four 

 guineas, or even more, during recent years. 



But it is not the price of either the blue or the white 

 skins I propose to discuss in detail in the present article. 

 The circumstance to which I desire to draw the attention 

 of my readers is the very remarkable one that both the 

 blue and the white skins belong to one and the same kind 

 of animal. At first sight this may seem, perhaps, a fact 

 of no special interest or importance. For, as we all know, 

 certain species of mammals, such as the stoat or ermine, 

 the mountain-hare, and the lemming, are normally white in 



certain parts of their habitats in winter and dark-coloured in 



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