202 



MR. E. I. NEWTON ON THE VERTEBRATE 



[May 1894, 



all parts of the skeleton. These bones naturally fall into two 

 sets ; one agreeing in size with the common fox, and another 

 in which all the hones are of a smaller size. The latter set 

 evidently belong to a second species, Canis lagopus, and will be 

 noticed below. The larger bones are the most numerous, and are 

 unhesitatingly referred to Canis vulpes : the jaws and teeth, as 

 well as the other bones of the skeleton, presenting no characters 

 either of size or form different from those of C. vulpes. Some of 

 the bones, as will be seen by the measurements, are larger than 

 those of the female fox given for comparison, and doubtless belonged 

 to a male, while some appear to have belonged to a smaller example. 

 The common fox has been found in Caves and in Pleistocene river- 

 deposits ; it is now living throughout the greater part of Europe 

 and Asia, ranging from Britain and Scandinavia to Kamtchatka, as 

 far northward as trees flourish : it is also met with in Africa, north 

 of the Sahara. 



Measurements of Foxes' Bones (in millimetres), 



a 



vulpes. 



2 



C.hu 

 6 



/opus. 



2 



C. vulpes. 

 Ightham. 



C. lagopus. 

 Ightham. 



Length of entire row of cheek-. 













teeth of lower jaw 1 



60 

 545 



53 

 48 



49 

 44 



58 to 61 

 50 



49 to 50-5 



45 



ditto ditto upper jaw 



Length of lower carnassial ... 



16-4 



13-5 



13 



15 to 16-5 



125 to 13-6 



„ upper ,, outside 



14 



125 



12 



13 



12 





130 



110 



100 



123 to 132 



104 





142 



126 



113 



134 to 135 



110 to 114 





123 



111 



96 



117 to 127 



96 



„ radius 1 



118 



103 



92 



108 to 119 



91 





139 



122 



108 



143 



106 



Canis lagopus. (Arctic Fox.) PI. XII. figs. 5-9. — The series of 

 smaller canine bones, which are referred to this species, includes 

 upper and lower jaws with the cheek-teeth, as well as representatives 

 of each of the limb-bones and many of those of the feet. Only the 

 complete bones have been used for the measurements given in the 

 table, and it will be seen that one of them, the radius, is a trifle 

 smaller than that of the female C. lagopus, while all the other 

 measurements are intermediate between those of the same parts in 

 the male and female C. lagopus. 



Dr. Woldfich 1 has used the name of Vulpes meridionalis for certain 

 fox-bones from the ' Diluvium ' which are said to be smaller than 

 C. lagopus and to have a proportionately narrower upper carnassial 

 tooth. The upper carnassials, preserved in the jaws from Ightham, 

 are slightly more compressed than in the C. lagopus, referred to by 

 Dr. Woldfich, and closely resemble those of V. meridionalis, but 



1 Denksehr. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch. Wien, vol. xxxix. (1878) p. 143; also 

 Sitzungsb. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch. Wien, vol. lxxxii. (1880) p. 38. 



