VULPES 331 



Vulpes vulpbs crucigera Bechstein. 



1789. [Cams] crucigera Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturgesoh. Deutsohlands, 

 I, p. 250 (Thiiringen, Germany). 



1792. C[anis] Vulpes alopex europaeus Kerr, Anim. Kingd., p. 142 (Bur- 

 gundy, France). 



1797. Cams vulpes alba Borkhausen, Deutsche Fauna, I, p. 33 (Vogelsberg, 

 near Budigshain, Hessen, Germany). 



1797. Cams vulpes nigra Borkhausen, Deutsche Fauna, I, p. 33 (Hessen 

 and Thiiringen, Germany). 



1801. Clams'] v[ulpes] lutea Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturgesch. Deutsoh- 

 lands, i, 2nd ed., p. 628 (Thiiringen, Germany). 



1801. C[anis] v[ulpes] cinerea Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturgesch. Deutsoh- 

 lands, I, 2nd ed., p. 628 (Thiiringen, Germany). 



1832. Canis melanogaster Bonaparte, Ioonogr. Fauna Ital., i, faso. 1 

 (Neighbourhood of Borne, Italy). 



1841. Vulpes hypomelas Wagner, Schreber's Saugthiere, Suppl., n, p. 405 

 (Oberbayern, Germany). 



1857. Cams vulpes Blasius, Saugethiere Deutsohlands, p. 191. 



1861. ? V[ulpes] vulgaris meridionatis Fitzinger, Wissensch.-pop. Natur- 

 gesch. der Saugeth., I, p. 194 (Dalmatia). 



1910. Vulpes vulpes (part) and V. vulpes melanogaster Trouessart, Faune 

 Mamm. d'Europe, pp. 93-94. 



Type locality. — Thiiringen, Germany. 



Geographical distribution. — Central and southern Europe from 

 Ireland eastward and from the coast of the Baltic to the 

 Pyrenees, Italy and Greece. 



Diagnosis. — Maximum size rather less than in V. v. vulpes, 

 and teeth distinctly smaller, the premolars rather widely spaced 

 and seldom if ever in contact ; general colour a bright yellowish 

 or reddish brown, the posterior half of back not conspicuously 

 frosted with whitish, and tail never clear greyish. 



Colour. — In seventeen skins the general colour ranges from 

 nearly cinnamon-rufous to a light ochraceous-rufous, the sides 

 of neck and region immediately behind shoulder lighter than 

 median dorsal area (in extreme instances clear buff with a 

 decided rufous tinge) ; posterior half of back with evident 

 white frosting in some specimens, scarcely any in others, but 

 this character never so pronounced as in average Spanish skins ; 

 underparts dull slaty overlaid with white, the slaty nearly always 

 predominating, except on throat, and not infrequently giving the 

 effect of an almost blackish tinge throughout, this apparently 

 not in the least dependent on regional or local climatic con- 

 ditions. In a flat skin from Cephalonia, Greece, the characteristic 

 slaty and white is confined to the throat and chin, all the rest 

 of the ventral region being a dull tawny-ochraceous like sides. 

 Two specimens from Tatoi, near Athens, taken in July, have 

 shed all the longer hairs of the back, leaving only the velvety 

 underfur. This is of the usual colour, a dull umber brown, in 

 one specimen with a slaty cast. 



Skull and teeth. — The skull and teeth do not attain so great 



