392 



MR. E. G. LODER ON BOS AMERICANTJS. [Apr. 16, 



April 16, 1878. 

 E. W. H. Holdsworth, F. Z. S., in the Chair. 



Mr. Sclater exhibited a typical specimen of the new Fox lately 

 described by Mr. W. T. Blanford (J. A. S. B. xlvi. pt. ii. p. 321) as 

 Vulpes cana, from Baluchistan, which Mr. Blanford had forwarded to 

 him for examination. Mr. Blanford having stated (I. s. c.) that his 

 species appeared to be the same as the small Bushire Fox which in his 

 Zoology of Persia ('Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 41) he had referred 

 with doubt, after examining a young specimen living in the Society's 

 Gardens, to Canis famelicus, Riipp., had requested Mr. Sclater to 

 investigate this point. But the comparison of the skin sent by Mr. 

 Blanford with the animal referred to by him (' List of Vert.' 1877, 

 no. 213 o, p. 62), which was still living in the Society's Gardens, 

 showed that the two animals must belong to quite different species. 



Mr. Sclater was indebted to Mr. E. R. Alston for the subjoined 

 note upon these differences : — 



" Blanford's Yulpes cana is quite different from your C. famelicus 

 at the Gardens, which is much larger and lighter in colour. The fur 

 of the back is dark with light tips, forming a nearly uniform grey 

 grizzled with black only on the shoulders. The nape is like the 

 back ; and the outsides of the ears appear nearly black ; the limbs are 

 fulvous. The difference in size is shown in the following measure- 

 ments of the skeleton of the specimen of the same animal that died 1 , 

 taken to correspond with those given by Blanford. 



inches. 



Length of skull from occipital crest 5 



Length of skull from foramen magnum 5 



Length of nasal bones 

 Breadth of nasal portion 

 Breadth of frontal region . 



Breadth of brain-case 



Breadth of zygomatic arches 2 



Length of palate . , 2 



Breadth of palate 



Length of last upper prem 



Length of first molar 



Breadth of first molar 



Length of humerus 4 



Length of radius 5 



Length of femur 4 



Length of tibia 5 



•45 



•0 



•80 



•75 



•75 



•60 



•95 



■60 



•75 



•52 



•40 



•45 



•40 



•0 



•90 



•10 



Mr. E. G, Loder, F.Z.S., exhibited a mounted head of the 

 peculiar variety of Bos americanus, called the "Rocky-Mountain 

 Bison" 3 , remarkable for its soft, dark and long hair on the forehead. 



1 No 213 c of ' List, of Vert.' (1877) p. f>2. 



2 Allen's Memoir on the American Bison ' pp. 39, 40. 



