108 POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 
colored like a puma, and comes from northern China. Other 
members of the Family Viverridae contained in the collection 
are the Malayan Paradoxure, (P. hermaphroditus) ; the Black 
Paradoxure, (P. niger) ; the African Ichneumon, (Herpestes 
ichneumon), the strange black creature from the Malay Pe- 
ninsula called the Binturong, or ‘‘Bear-Cat,’’ (Arctictis bin- 
turong), and the Suricate, or Slender-Tailed Meerkat, (Suri- 
cata tetradactyla), of South Africa. 
Into the Small-Mammal House have drifted and comfort- 
ably settled down several canine species which are not so 
well satisfied, elsewhere. The Black-Backed Jackal, (Canis 
mesomelas), of Africa, is one of the most interesting, and it 
is also the one that thrives best in captivity. It is very 
much like a dark phase of the Azara Dog, of South America, 
and it is the handsomest of all the Jackals. The Cape Hunt- 
ing Dog, of eastern Africa, has for years been present in 
this building, and it will be kept as continuously as circum- 
stances will permit. 
The New Mexico Desert Fox, (Vulpes macrotis neomexi- 
canus), is a small understudy of the better known Swift or 
Kit Fox of the northern plains, but it has larger ears. 
Neither. of these delicate little species seems to thrive in our 
large Fox Dens, which seem to be too large for them; but 
in this building they thrive and are quite content with life. 
The Swift Fox is the four-footed elf of the plains, and it 
is unfortunate that the poison laid for the fierce and cruel 
stock-killing wolves should prove its extermination—as it 
surely will, ere long. 
The Arctic Fox, (Vulpes lagopus).—This creature of the 
polar world is a striking example of climatic influence on 
a species, and also of the danger that lies in describing a 
species from a single specimen. In the far north, the 
Arctic Fox is snow-white all the year round. Farther south 
it is white in winter, but in summer is bluish-brown. In the 
southern part of its range, the Aleutian Archipelago for 
example, except for an occasional white individual, it is 
dark all the year round, and is known only as the Blue 
Fox. At first it may seem difficult to believe that these two 
widely-different extremes are only color-phases of the same 
species; but it is quite true. The dark-colored animal is 
not even accorded subspecific rank. 
On various islands along the Alaska coast, especially in 
the Aleutian Archipelago, about forty commercial companies 
are engaged in breeding Blue Foxes for their fur, some of 
