F E R iE. 



21 



cowardly, always running from dogs, few however of which will attack 

 them. 



" The Prairie Wolf varies greatly, both in size and color, but its 

 jackal-like voice, half bark, half howl, sometimes approaching a 

 scream, is so different from that of the rest of the North American 

 Wolves, that most persons would recognize it as the same, whether 

 heard on the plains of the Mis.souri, or the pastures of California." 



CRANIUM OF LUPUS OCHEOPUS. 



2. Genus VULPES, BrUs. Reg. Anim. (175G).— The Foxes. 

 1. VuLPES viRGiNiANUS [Schreh.]. — The Gray Fox. 

 Canis virginianus, Schreber, Saugth. Ill, p. 585 (1778). 



Aud. Quad, of N. A. Plate XXI ; oct. ed. I, Plate XXI. 



This animal appears to be abundant in Western America, being 

 brought in nearly all collections made in that part of this continent. 

 We find in the collection of the Expedition, several fine specimens 

 which cannot be distinguished from others obtained in the Southern 

 States, on the Atlantic. This species, therefore, appears to inhabit 

 nearly the entire temperate regions of North America, extending its 

 range, as is not unfrequently the case with species of quadrupeds, 

 and birds also, farther north on the Pacific than on the Atlantic. 



Mr. Peale mentions this species as follows : 



" This animal was obtained at Puget's Sound, in Oregon, and was 

 observed several times in the forests which lay in our route to Cali- 

 fornia, but never in the prairie country." 



2. VuLPES VELOX {Sajj). — The Swift Fox. 



Canis velox, Say, Long's Exp. II, p. 339 (1823). 



G 



