MAMMALS OF PENlfSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. I47 



■Status of the two in the past has been due to the use by naturalists of speci- 

 mens more or less thoroughly European in their ancestry. Prof. S. F. Baird 

 •establishes the almost certain non-existence of the red fox in eastern Penn- 

 sylvania during comparatively recent times by the following statements which 

 are so pertinent to this matter that I quote them : " It is not a little remark- 

 able that there have as yet been no remains of the red fox detected among 

 ■the [post pliocene and more recent] fossils derived from the Carlisle and 

 other bone caves. The gray fox is abundantly represented, but not a trace of 

 the other. This would almost give color to the impression, somewhat preva- 

 lent, that the red fox of eastern America is the descendant of individuals of 

 the European red fox imported many years ago, and allowed to run wild and 

 overspread the country. The fact of their present abundance and extent of 

 ■distribution is no barrier to the reception of this idea, as the same has been 

 the case with horses brought over by the Spaniards after the discovery of 

 America, and set at liberty." — Mam. N. Amer., 1857, p. 130. It is also sig- 

 nificant that a general N. J. law, fixing bounties on wolves, was in 17 14 ex- 

 tended to include " Jietf Foxes," indicating that they had not begun to be 

 troublesome until that date. So far as the above statements go, with many 

 others of like import, it may be asserted as an indisputable fact that no satis- 

 factory comparison was ever made and published which had for its subjects 

 a series of European and Virginian, or Pennsylvanian red foxes with skins, 

 skulls and data prepared according to modern standards. Such a comparison 

 would be an interesting and valuable contribution to mammalogy and might 

 reveal some significant facts. 



Records in N.J. — Cape May Co. — "Seldom taken." — Beesley, Geol. Surv. 

 N. J., 1857 Appx. "One caught near Dennisville by Chas. Crandole about 

 1875." — Lee. Edward Harris, of Moorestown, N. J., the friend of Audubon, 

 wrote him regarding the method of hunting red foxes at Beesley's Point in 

 December, 1845. The foxes were located on Peck's beach, undoubtedly 

 placed there for the purpose by the hunters. They used no dogs, but had 

 drivers with clap-boards and rattles to make a din. Beesley told Harris he 

 had known 7 red foxes to be cornered thus at the point of the beach. The 

 gray fox was not found on the beach. Audubon's plate of the red fox was 

 taken from one of these Peck's beach specimens sent him by Harris. It 

 may now be considered one of the most typical representations of the de- 

 scendants of imported Vulpes vulpes. See Aud. and Bach., Quad. N. Amer., 

 1851, vol. 2, pp. 265, 266, 267. 



Hudson Co. — " On the height beyond Weehawken in the Jerseys a good 

 many red foxes are to be found, as well as more gray ones." — Ibid., p. 268. 



Mercer Co. — " Formerly was very abundant throughout the state, but now 

 [1868] is very rarely met with. The last specimen seen in Mercer Co. was 

 in 1850, and it is doubtful if others are now living in that or the adjoining 



