30 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



these substances invariably attract the animals. The box 

 trap has occasionally proved successful. The best plan is 

 to vary the modes from time to time. 



CjiNIS rVULPES) FULVUS. 



Var. a. Decussatus. 

 AMERICAN CROSS FOX. 



Renard barre ou Tsinantonque. Theodat. Canada, 

 745. — European Fox. var. b. Cross Fox. Pennant, 

 Jlrct. Zool. i. 46. — Cams decussatus. Geoffroy, 

 Desmarest, &c. 



The American decussatus appears to bear the same 

 relation to the red Fox, as the European crucigera does 

 to the common Fox. The Indians, observes Dr. Richard- 

 son, consider it as a mere variety of the red Fox, and in 

 fact, the gradations of colour between characteristic speci- 

 mens of the cross and red Fox are so small, that the hunt- 

 ers are often in doubt with respect to the proper denomi- 

 nation of a skin. 



The following description of a very characteristic speci- 

 men, is given by Mr. Sabine. 



" The front of the head gray, composed of black and 

 white hairs, the latter predominating on the forehead; 

 ears covered with soft black fur behind, and with long 

 yellowish hairs within. The back of the neck and shoul- 

 ders pale ferruginous, crossed with dark stripes; one ex- 

 tending from the head over the back, the other passing it 

 at right angles over the shoulders ; rest of the back gray, 

 composed of black fur, tipped with white; the sides pale 

 ferruginous, running into the gray of the back; the chin 

 and all the under parts, as well as the legs, black; a few of 

 the hairs being tipped with white; the under part of the 

 tail and adjacent parts of the body, pale yellow; the gray 

 colour of the back extends to the upper part of the tail at 

 its commencement, the rest of the tail dark above and light 

 beneath, tipped with white." 



F. Cuvier is inclined to think, that u is a variety of the 

 urgentatiis, and Godman supposes that it may possibly be 

 a mule produced between that Fox and the red. The fur 

 of this species is valuable, and is much more esteemed than 

 that of the red Fox, even where they are of equal fineness. 



C^NIS rVULPES) FULVUS. 



Var. b. Argentatus. 



BLACK, OR SILVER FOX. 



Renard noir. Theodat. Canada. 744. — European 

 Fox, var. a. black. Pennant, </lrc. Zool. i. 46. — 

 Renard noir ou argents. Geoff. Collec. de Mus. — 



Renard argenti. F. Cuvier, Mamm. lith. livr. v. — 

 Canis argentatus. Desmarest, Mamm. 203. Sabine, 

 Harlan. — Black, or Silver Fox. Godman, i. 274. 



This variety is as rare in America as the analogous 

 one is in Europe, a greater number than four or five being 

 seldom taken in a season, at any one post of tlie fur com- 

 panies. Capell Brooke observes of the European variety, 

 " The silver, or black Fox is so rare, that seldom more 

 than three or four are taken in the course of a year on the 

 Lofoden Islands, and I have never heard of its being 

 met with in any other part of Norway." Pennant seems 

 to think that this may arise from their superior cunning, 

 for he remarks "that the more desirable the fur is, the 

 more cunning, and difficult to be taken, is the Fox that 

 owns it." This, however, is erroneous, it depending 

 solely on the rarity of the animal. Dr. Godman says, it 

 more closely resembles the gray Fox than any other, 

 differing from it only, in the colour and copiousness of 

 its fur. 



This Fox is sometimes of a rich lustrous black colour, 

 with the exception of the end of the tail, which is white. 

 But it varies much in this particular. " A fine specimen, 

 preserved in the Hudson's Bay Museum, has the head and 

 back hoary, most of the long hairs on those parts being 

 white from tlie tip for a considerable way down. The 

 downy fur at the root of the longer hairs, has a dark black- 

 ish brown colour The nose, legs, sides of the neck and 

 all the under parts, are dusky, approaching to black. The 

 tail is black. Its ears are erect, triangular, but not very 

 acute, and are covered with a soft fur of a brownish black 

 colour. In some individuals, the fur, which in most parts 

 is hoary, has a shining black colour, unmixed witli white, 

 from the crown of the head to the middle of the back, and 

 down the outside of the shoulders, being an approach to 

 the cruciform arrangement."* 



This Fox resembles its kindred, in the unpleasant odour 

 it diffuses. F. Cuvier mentions that its smell is very disa- 

 greeable, but differs somewhat from that of tlie common 

 Fox of Europe. The black Fox inhabits the same districts 

 as tho red Fox. 



* Richardson, O. C. 95. 



NOTE. — As we are »ory solicitous ihat the Natural History of our native 

 animals should be extricated from the confusion and uncertainty in which it still 

 remains; we would feel under obligations to any of our readers, who will furnish 

 us with such information as they may possess respecting them. We are led to 

 make this request, from a desire to render our work a repository of facts in Na- 

 tural History, which will always serve for useful reference. As regards the 

 opinion we have expressed with respect to the Red Fox, we shall be very willing 

 to acknowledge our eiTor, on the sight of the skia of the Common Fox, killed in 

 the United States, and will feel much indebted for such an opportunity of set- 

 tling the question. 



