358 Fur-bearing Foxes. 



shoulders. This curious mark is formed by two stripes, one of 

 which extends along the back ; in some skins it is quite blacky 

 whilst in others it shades off through every gradation of tint, 

 from brown to dingy yellow; the other stripe of a similar tint 

 crosses the back stripe at the shoulders. Skins of the cross fox, 

 when they are very conspicuously marked with either a black 

 or a particularly dark coloured cross, are employed by some 

 religious communities to adorn the vestments of their priests, 

 and extravagantly high prices are frequently paid for skins so 

 coloured, although the market value of cross fox skins is 

 immensely below that of silver. About 3500 cross fox 

 skins are annually disposed of at auction by the London fur 

 companies, I may safely take as a general standard of value 

 for cross fox skins, — a standard quite accurate enough for all 

 practical purposes, — the price paid for these skins at the 

 March sale of 1866, on which occasion the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany disposed of 2064 cross foxes at an average rate of 

 £1 14s. 8d. per skin, the highest price being £4, the lowest 

 14s. ; 2064 skins at £1 14s. 8d. per skin = £3577 12s. 



The red fox {Vulpes fulvus) comes third upon our list of 

 foxes. About thirty-six thousand skins of the red fox are sold 

 each year at the London fur sales, and I shall take the prices 

 red fox skins made, at the March sale of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company for the year 1866, as a fair standard of their average 

 value. The number of red fox skins sold was 13,746, the 

 highest price per skin was 18s. 9d., and 4s. 9d. the lowest; 

 this gives an average for each skin of 10s. Old. 13,746 

 at 10s. 0|d. per skin = £6901 12s.; but we must bear in 

 mind this only represents the sale of one company's furs. 

 To the above number of red fox skins, viz., 13,746, must 

 be added 22,205, as quoted on Messrs. Lampson's catalogue, 

 and 1265 for those of Messrs. Culverwell, Brooks, and Co. — in 

 all 37,214 skins. 



Turks are the great consumers of red fox fur, because 

 it is generally employed to line the long cloaks which are so 

 universally worn in Turkey. A very large number of red 

 fox skins are likewise sent to Russia, as well as to the colder 

 parts of Europe, where they arc employed for making rugs for 

 carriages and sledges, and as linings for winter garments. 



In the trade these three foxes — viz., the silver, cross, and 

 red foxes — are held to be distinct species, but there can be 

 very little, if any, doubt that they are simply varieties of one 

 common type. If a specimen of the black or silver fox is 

 placed beside a red fox, the difference of colour is so marked 

 that one is disposed to say at once that the two animals must 

 be specifically distinct from each other; but when I go to the 

 fur stores and arrange a hundred or more skins side by side, 



