16 



Genus Vulpes. Brisson. 



To the Sub-family characters already indicated may be added : tail with 

 soft fur and long hair, uniformly mixed ; muzzle long ; temporal crests 

 coming nearly in contact. These, with the " dissimilarity in color, and 

 a difference in build, easier to remark upon comparison then to express 

 in words, readily distinguish the red fox in any of its pelages from the 

 gray fox." ( Drocyon virginianus.) 



The American foxes included in this genus are the Arctic Fox ( V. la- 

 gopus, Rich) ; the Swift Pox (F. velox, Aud. and Bach.) of the plains west 

 of Missouri to Oregon ; the Large Prairie Fox ( V. macrurus, Baird) of the 

 Upper Missouri to plains of Oregon, and the American Red Fox ( V. vul- 

 garis pennsylvanicus, (Bodd.,) Coues), which in three well marked color 

 varieties is distributed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



Vulpes vulgabis pennsylvanicus. (Bodd.) Coues. 

 American Red Fox. 



1784. Canis vulpes, var. pennsylvanicus, Bodd., Blenchus Anim., 1784, 



96 (from Pennant.) 

 1820. C.inis fulvis, Desm., Mamm., i., 1820, 203 (from Pal. de Beau v.). Fr. 



Cuv., Diet. Sci. 

 1829. Vulpes fulvus, Rich., Fn. Bor. Am., i., 1829, 91.— Fischer, Syn., 1829, 



191.— De Kay, N. Y. Fn. i. 1842, 44, pi. 7, f. 1.— Aud. & Bach., 



Quad. N. A., ii. 1851, 263, .pi. 87.— Baird, Mamm. JN. A., 1867, 



123. 

 1841. Canis (Vulpes) vulgaris, var. fulvus, Wagn., Suppl. Schreber, ii. 1841, 



413. 

 1875. Vulpes vulgaris pennsylvanicus, Coues, Geolog. and Geog. Surveys 



West One Hundredth Meridian, Chap. II., Vol. V. 1875, 52.— 



Jordan Manual Vertebrates, 1878, 17. 



The ordinary variety of the Red Fox ( V. pennsylvanicus) may be known 

 from its melanotic forms, the Cross Fox ( V. deeussatus) and Black or Silver 

 Gray Fox (V. argentatus) by its prevailing color : a bright, clear, yellowish 

 rufous, darker on the shoulders and flanks. The pelage of the Red Fox 

 is long, fine and lustrous. The hair is much silkier and softer than in 

 the Red Fox of Europe (F. vulgaris). The convexity of the ears and out- 

 side of the legs below are of a glossy black; space around the black snout, 

 edges of upper jaw, chin, throat, breast, and narrow belly-line more or 

 «ss purely white, as is usually the tip of the tail. The feet are so clothed 

 with long, soft hair that the claws and balls are nearly hidden. The 



