120 MAMMALS OF UTAH 



species might with great propriety be called the yellow fox. 

 The yellow is brightest anteriorly on the sides; there is, 

 however, a wash of reddish along the dorsal line. The 

 hinder part of the back is variegated with yellowish white, 

 this color annulating the long hairs, which are otherwise 

 black at the base and rufous at the tip. The under fur is 

 everywhere plumbeous at base, and of a chestnut color 

 terminally along the dorsal line, changing through ochre 

 yellow to yellowish white on the sides. There is, however, 

 a darker yellowish cross on the shoulders, separating the 

 yellowish white of the sides of body and neck. The upper 

 part of the head is grizzled like the lower part of the back. 

 The throat, chest, and under parts generally, including the 

 whole belly and inside of legs and thighs are of a clear, 

 yellowish white without any red, the plumbeous base of the 

 wool showing occasionally through. The amount of white 

 is thus greater than in the red fox. The base of the ears is 

 yellow; the greater portion, however, of their convexity is 

 uniform black. The tail is of a duller yellow than the body, 

 lighter on the sides, the long hairs tipped with black, cloud- 

 ing the tail with this color; the tip of the tail is entirely 

 yellowish white. The fore feet are black ; on the hind feet, 

 however, this color only extends in a narrow line on the 

 anterior face. Nose to tip of tail, 33 inches. (Baird, type 

 from Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City.) 



(2) BLACK FOX: SILVER FOX 

 VULPES FULVA ARGENTATA (Shaw) 



Canis argentatus Shaw, Sen. Zool., 1, 1800, p. 325. 

 Vulpes pennsylvanica argentata Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm. 

 F. C. M. Pub., 11, 1901, p. 304. " 



Description — Uniform lustrous black with a distinct 

 white tip to the tail. On the top and sides of the head, 

 however, and on the posterior half of the back, including the 

 outside of the thighs, the long hairs are grayish-silvery at 

 the end (the extreme tips black) grizzling the back very 

 conspicuously. The same feature is observable at the base 

 of the tail and to some distance on the sides ; it is also seen 

 slightly on the shoulders. The under fur is of a sooty color, 

 not very dark, however, and becoming lighter on the sides 

 of the neck and flanks. (Baird.) Like the cross fox, this 

 is only a color phase of the typical red fox, but commercially 

 the two forms are so distinct, and so sharply defined in 



