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brush is large and full, the distance between the ends of the outstretched 

 hairs 6 to 7 inches. 



In Northern Ohio, according to Prof. Baird, a variety of the Red Fox is 

 not uncommon in which the long hairs of the body and tail are entirely 

 wanting, leaving the soft, silken far freely exposed. The colors do not 

 vary from the common variety, except that the red is lighter; there is no 

 black on the tail, or grizzling on the hir.der back. Prof. Baird states 

 that this condition of the hair has been observed by him m skins of 

 Canis griseus, from Chili, as well as in many other species. Regarding 

 this peculiar condition of the pelage, Mr. Allen is of the opinion that it 

 is the result of a disease which produces a crisp, woolly condition of the- 

 fur much as though it had been singed; hence the common name of 

 "Sampson" or '-Samson" foxes. The same author states that in Van 

 Buren and Allegan counties, Michigan, about one-third of all the foxe& 

 taken are of this varii-ty, and that their skins bring much less in market 

 than those of the common Red Fox ; the animal, moreover, is represehted 

 as less cunning, and more easily trapped, and has slightly different hab- 

 its from the normal variety. The specimen observed by Prof. Baird was 

 sent him by Dr. Ackley. Whether this variety is still found in the State 

 is not known to the present writer. 



Dr. Coues regards the Cross Fox as a " special state of semi-melaBism '' 

 of the common fox. This variety, common in northern ^ew York, and 

 sometimes as far southward as Pennsylvania and Ohio, receives its name 

 from the presence of a black cross formed by a black band along; the back 

 crossed by another on the shoulder. It shades by varying and almost in- 

 sensible degrees in'o the Black or Silver-Gray Fox. 



Complete, or nearly complete, melanism distinguishes the Black or 

 Silver-Gray Fox, {Canis or Vulpes argeniatus, or fuhus var. argentatus of 

 authors.) The color is a uniform, lustroas black, with conspicuously white- 

 tipped tail; more or less of the long bairs of the back and flanks, top 

 and sides of head grayish, silvery at the end, giving a silvered appear- 

 ance to the pt'lage. The perfectly black pelts are found, chiefly, in I\igh 

 latitudes. 



Such pelts are extremely rare, and command a high price in the 

 market; indeed the varying colors determine the value of the pelt, and 

 so are of great commercial importance ; they have, however, no clas&ifi- 

 catory significance. 



" While the Cross and Black or Silver Foxes are usually considered as different ' varie- 

 ties,' they are not such, in the ciassificatory sense of that term, any more than are the 

 red, black, or white wolves, the black marmots, squirrels, etc. The proof of this is in 

 the fact that one or both of the ' varieties ' occur in the same liltter-of whelps from nor- 

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