GILPIN ON THE MAMMALS OF NOYA SCOTIA. 13 



belly and under parts, legs and tail (Avhite tip excepted) black ; tlie 

 upper parts black with more or less white hair .intermixed in a 

 general hoary tint. This marks the Silver Grey Fox. 



In another skin, Avith the exception of a few grey hairs on either 

 flank, one lustrous jetty black relieved by the snowy tip of the tail, 

 pervades the whole. This is the priceless Black Fox. 



The hunter and the fur dealer make seven distinct varieties, — 

 the red, the brander, the cross, the patch, the silver and the black. 

 These are so many stages in the Red Fox becoming black. 



In a red skin of the finest colour there are always a few scatter- 

 ing grey hairs upon the flanks, some sooty hairs upon the tail, and 

 a tendency to black upon the belly. Whilst the grey hairs of the 

 flanks are overrunning the whole body, the tail, (tip excepted,) the 

 belly, chin, breast and legs become black. This is the brander, — 

 a red grey fox, black beneath. When the black of the tail invades 

 the back and shoulders, he becomes the cj-oss-fox, or a red grey 

 with a cross on his back. A little red still lingering about the back 

 makes him a patch. When that has entirely disappeared, he be- 

 comes silver grey, and when one entire nigritism has pervaded the 

 whole skin, except the snowy tij) of the tail, he then becomes the 

 peerless black fox, so seldom seen that he is almost a myth. Though 

 I have seen one at least, which had as few as a dozen white hairs 

 on the flanks. This description is based upon a series of skins, 

 spread out and varying from red to black. Although I do not 

 mean to assert that these changes take place in every one living 

 specimen, yet it seems probable that as the cubs are born dusky, 

 this tendency to nigritism exists, with more or less intensity in 

 each individual at the birth, and prevents the red colour from ap- 

 pearing. ■ At least we must accept this as a reason until we get 

 more certain knowledge. All I mean to advance is that there is a 

 general principle and order in the changes, and that in the reddest ^ 

 skin we find the germ of the blackest. This tendency to nigritism 

 shared by the wolves, and in a less degree by the squirrels, seems 

 to increase in northern latitudes — the proportion of silver and cross 

 foxes in the Hudson Bay Company's list, being about one-third, 

 whilst in Nova Scotia the proportion runs one in ten. I saw two 

 that were taken when cubs at Annapolis. They were kept in con- 

 finement for several years, the female greyer than the male, but 



