ORDER CARNASSIER. 365 



fur thicker than that of the ordinary Fox, and from this 

 last-mentioned peculiarity it derives a thicker and more 

 squat appearance. Some are also found which have more 

 black hair than common along the dorsal line, and across 

 the shoulders, and to those the name of the European Cross 

 Fox has been applied. The cross disposition of the black 

 stripes is met with in three or four species or varieties of 

 the Fox ; but the distinctive epithet is applicable only to 

 a South American species, in which this character is pecu- 

 liarly remarkable. 



The Egyptian Fox is treated as distinct by Geoffroy , under 

 the name of Canis Niloticus. It differs very slightly from 

 the common species. 



Of the Tri-coloured Fox {Canis Cinereo-Argenteus,) it may 

 be observed that the name might in point of fact be applied 

 to the other species, as the white, the fawn-colour, and the 

 black are combined in the fur of almost all the Foxes. But 

 improper as it may be, it must be retained, as it has been 

 so long received, and as we are ignorant of the name which 

 this animal bears in the middle and southern regions of 

 North America, which are its native countries, [t is asto- 

 nishing how little care is taken by travellers to ascertain 

 the proper names of the animals of those countries which 

 they traverse, even when the means of such information are 

 completely within their reach. The influence which such 

 information must exercise on the progress of natural his- 

 tory would give a double value to their researches. The 

 history of any species can evidently be the result only of a 

 very long series of observations, which it is'utterly impos- 

 sible for any single individual to make. To the first ob- 

 servations of this description the second should be natu- 

 rally attached, for the purpose of giving them their full 

 portion of utility, the third to the second, and so on, until 

 all the necessary information is acquired. Without this 

 plan, we are liable to endless repetitions, which can pro- 

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