8 



ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



smaller and less bushy than in the former animals. The contour of the head 

 is wolf-like ; the legs, however, are shorter than in the true wolves ; and the 

 tail is white at the apex, a character common in the foxes. 



The fur of the Antarctic Fox is moderately long, and the under fur is not 

 very abundant, especially as compared with that of the C. magellanicus. This 

 under fur is of a pale brown colour ; the apical portion of each hair is yellow- 

 ish ; the longer hairs are black at the apex, brown at the base, and annulated 

 with white towards the apex. In many of these hairs the subapical pale ring 

 is wanting. On the chest and belly the hairs are of a pale dirty yellow 

 colour, gray-white at the base, and black at the apex. On the hinder part 

 of the belly the hairs are almost of an uniform dirty white. The space around 

 the angle of the mouth, the upper lip, and the whole of the throat, are white. 

 The chin is brown-white, or brownish. The basal half of the tail is of the 

 same colour as the body, and the hairs are of the same texture ; on the apical 

 half of the tail they are of a harsher or less woolly nature, of a black colour 

 at the apex, and brownish at the base ; those at the extreme point are totally 

 white. The legs are almost of an uniform fulvous colour ; the feet are of a 

 somewhat paler hue ; the hairs on the under side of the hinder feet are 

 brownish, and the external and posterior parts of the tibiae are suffused with 

 the same tint. The hairs on the head are grizzled with black and fulvous ; 

 the former of these colours is somewhat conspicuous, excepting in the region 

 of the eyes, where the fulvous or yellowish tint prevails. The muzzle is 

 scarcely of so dark a hue as the crown of the head. The ears are furnished 

 internally with long white hairs, externally the hairs are yellowish, with their 

 apices black ; the latter colour is more conspicuous towards the tip of the ear. 

 The sides of the neck near the ear are of a rich fulvous hue. 



Length from nose to root of tail 



from tip of nose to ear 

 of tail (hair included) 



In. Lines. 



36 



7 3 



13 



Length of ear 



Height of body at shoulders 



In. Lines. 



2 9 

 15 



Habitat, Falkland Islands. 



"Three specimens of this animal were brought to England by Capt. FitzRoy ; 

 from one of which, the above drawing and description has been made. The 

 earliest notice I can find of this animal is by Pernety,* during Bougainville's voy- 

 age, which was undertaken in 1764, for the purpose of colonizing these islands. 

 The strange familiarity of its manner seems to have excited the fears of some of 



* 



Journal Historique d'un Voyage fait aux lies Malouines, torn. ii. p. 459 



