368 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



M. F. Cuvier, in an article in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences 

 Naturelles," admitted this identity, but afterwards, in his 

 great work on the Mammalia, he hesitates to do so for the 

 reasons just assigned. As for ourselves, we cannot venture 

 to dissent from so high an authority, but must fully agree 

 with him, that every error of synonymy has a direct ten- 

 dency to retard the progress of science. The Agouarachy 

 is referred, by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, to a gray Fox of 

 Paraguay, recently brought to the French Museum. 



The Tri-coloured Fox is easily tamed, if taken young. It is 

 disposed to be playful with those whom it knows, and can 

 distinguish the family of its keeper from strangers. Should 

 a dog enter its master's dwelling, it will instantly expel the 

 intruder, but with the dogs of the house it lives on terms 

 of great intimacy. It has a great propensity to sleep during 

 the day, a sufficient indication of its nocturnal habits in a 

 state of nature. It is not easily compelled, notwithstanding 

 its tameness, to enter or quit any place, but rather than do 

 so, will submit to blows, which it answers by growling. 



The particulars, in this last paragraph, are taken from 

 D'Azzara, whose animal, as we have seen, is not completely 

 ascertained to be the same with the Cards Cinereo-Argen 

 tens. But all the manners and cunning of the European Fox 

 are, in general, attributed to this its congener on the other 

 side of the Atlantic. This is, probably, the Virginian Fox of 

 Catesby. 



The Silvery Fox (Canis Argentatus) is a species which 

 has been known for a long time, and in high estimation, on 

 account of the beauty and richness of its fur, which be- 

 comes very valuable when manufactured. Notwithstanding 

 this, we have had no figure of the animal until lately, when 

 one was published by the Baron's brother, in his Litho- 

 graphic work, and another in the " Dictionnaire des 

 Sciences Naturelles." Naturalists did not even possess 

 very clear notions on the animal, until latterly. Brisson, 



