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. hcrmaphroditus) ; the Black 

 Paradoxure, [P. niger) ; the African Ichneumon, {Herpcstes 

 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 



