192 THKOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



collectors; and while it is just probable that the different 

 varieties have occasionally been found among the litter of a 

 red fox mother, yet I have for a long time been of the opin- 

 ion that there must have been originally two distinct and 

 well-defined species of North American fox — the pure red 

 and the pure black (Vulpes fulva et V. nigra) — and, as a 

 matter of fact, there still exist many of the former and some 

 of the latter throughout the entire region under review. 

 I also firmly believe that sexual intercourse between a male 

 and female red fox invariably results in the production of 

 only red foxes. I am equally satisfied that similar results 

 always follow cohabitation between a male and female black 

 fox. In course of many years' trading of fox skins, I have 

 observed perhaps every possible degree of variation between 

 the practically perfect, typical red fox and the same descrip- 

 tion of the black form. These varieties between the two 

 are easily accounted for as a consequence of the natural 

 commerce which exists among the sexes during the annual 

 seasons of copulation. 



Since writing the above, I have come across Chief Trader 

 Bernard E. Boss's " Popular Treatise on the Eur-Bearing 

 Animals of the Mackenzie Kiver District." I will now 

 quote from page 16 thereof the views held by him and there- 

 in stated, and with which I fully agree in this connection: 



In treating on the different varieties of foxes I have spoken of, 

 it is extremely difficult to mark the line where one ends and the 

 other commences. During my residence in these regions I have 

 seen every shade of colour among them, from a bright flame tint 

 to a perfectly black pelt, always excepting the tip of the tail, which 

 in all cases is white. Even the judgment of an experienced fur 

 trader is sometimes at fault to decide, in bartering, to which of 

 the three varieties a skin should belong, as they bear different 

 prices. Still, notwithstanding this, I consider these colours to have 

 been produced by intermixture of breed; the different varieties 

 being, in my opinion, quite as distinct as those of the human race. 

 And I do not think that any of the progeny of two pairs of red 

 foxes would be either black or cross. In cohabiting, the male foxes 

 accompany the females in bands of from 3 to 10, much in the 



