226 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



size. In the present case the variation in color may 

 be properly regarded as geographical through an in- 

 creasing tendency to melanism northward. The vari- 

 ation in size is also chiefly of the same character, the 

 size uniformly increasing toward the North. The 

 largest specimens come from the Aleutian Islands 

 and Alaska, and the smallest from Essex County, 

 New York. 



" The foxes of the colder regions, it is true, have a 

 fuller and softer pelage, a greater tendency to mela- 

 nism, shorter muzzles, and are larger ; yet these difEer- 

 ences are so inconstant — especially the differences of 

 color — and so insensibly intergrade that any attempt 

 at their subspeciiic recognition seems impracticable, 

 the most diverse varieties in color occurring at the 

 same localities and even among individuals of the 

 same litter." 



So it appears that the particular foxes called red, 

 black, silver, and cross are all one species, with a com- 

 mercial difference ; that is all. But that difference 

 expressed in dollars and cents is quite considerable. 

 I find that the dearest red fox skin is quoted at a 

 dollar and eighty-five cents, and the cheapest at fifty 

 cents ; the dearest " cross " skin at nine dollars, and 

 the cheapest at seventy -five cents. The dark " silver " 

 is quoted at from one hundred and twenty-five to ten 

 dollars, and the pale at from fifty to five dollars. 



