OF THE CANIDA AND URSIDA. 925 
nostrils are large and separated by a very narrow septum, and 
the groove from the upper lip extends upwards to a point just 
above the inferior border of the nostrils. 
The vibrisse are normal in position, and the mystacial and 
submental bristles are shorter than in Vulpes or Canis mesomelas. 
Until Miller published his ‘Catalogue of the Mammals of 
Western Europe,’ the Arctic fox was not regarded as generically 
distinct from Vulpes, although Kaup and, later, Gray had applied 
generic names to it, because of the unsatisfactory nature of the 
characters by which it was distinguished. It cannot be claimed 
that the diagnostic features employed by Miller are of great 
value, as he himself seems prepared to admit. Most of them are 
cranial *, the only external feature mentioned being the shorter 
and more rounded ear. If such characters, however, be used for 
distinguishing ‘“‘ Alopecoid”’ genera, it will be necessary to give 
generic status to nearly every species of fox—ausing “‘ species” in its 
old sense. Judged, however, by its feet, the Arctic fox is quite 
distinguishable generically from Vulpes vulpes and bengalensis 
and from Ofocyon, and the same may be said of the rhinarium 7. 
In the extent of the area of the sole applied to the ground the 
feet of Alopex lagopus show superficial resemblance to those of 
Speothos venaticus, and a comparison between the two species 
suggests that the structural modification described as fusion of the 
pads in the latter is due to the nakedness of the integumental 
cushions behind the pads. But since in Speothos the naked areas 
regarded as pads are granular throughout, and show no trace of 
hair-follicles like the thickened integument behind the pads in 
Alopex, the view put forward in this paper, that the pads of 
Speothos ave enlarged and fused, appears to be correct. 
Vulpes vulpes Linn. 
(Text-fig. 8, A.) 
Feet long and narrow with comparatively small pads and long 
claws. Carpal pad small and set high above the plantar pad ; 
and the digital pad of the first digit (poliex) above the middle of 
the area between the carpal and plantar pads. 
Plantar pad moderately wide, but subcrescentic in form, owing 
to the encroachment of the hair over its median portion 
posteriorly. Third and fourth digits especially long and tied 
together by a narrow web, so that the interval between them, 
when extended, is much less than the interval between the second 
* One feature mentioned needs restating. It is said that the interorbital region 
of the skull is more elevated than in Vulpes, owing to greater inflation of the 
frontal sinuses. Asa matter of fact, the frontal sinuses, as Huxley pointed out, are 
undeveloped, as in other “ Alopecoid ” skulls, the inflation in question being caused 
by the upward extension of the nasal passages. 
+ The caudal gland in the specimen examined was larger than in any species of 
Canide that I have looked at. It was a hairless patch of very thick glandular skin 
about 25mm. long and one-third longer than wide. There was no underfur mixed 
with the hairs surrounding it; and, like the feet, it gave out a strong “foxy” smell. 
62* 
