72 



QUADRUPEDS. 



reckon ah animal useless from which he derived any value; 

 and that designation would only be applied to those animals 

 which destroy the others that are valuable to him. A very 

 narrow compass would then contain the list of organized 

 bodies which do any damage to the cultivator of the earth, 

 and he would have his attention more confined to the de- 

 struction of the real enemies of his business. 



1. The ^' Fox"* is an animal of the dog kind. In natural 

 history, it belongs to the series Vertebrata ; class Mammalia ; 

 order Sarcophaga, or preying ; family Digitigrada, or toe- 

 treaders ; genus Canis ; and sub-genus Canis vulpes, or the 

 common fox. The genus Canis contains the dogs, wolves, 

 foxes, the civets and ichneumons ; besides a few minor genera 

 of recent introduction. 



Incisors -; canines - ] ; molars ^ — ^ = 42 teeth. The 



6 1—1 7—7 



incisive teeth are all placed on the same line, and are usually 

 trilobate, before being worn by use. The upper molars con- 

 sist of three small single-lobed false molars, one bicuspidate 

 carnivorous cheek-tooth, and two small tuberculous teeth 

 with flattened crowns. The inferior molars consist of four 

 false molars, one carnivorous cheek-tooth, and two tubercu- 

 lous grinders. The tongue is smooth. The anterior extremi- 

 ties are furnished with five toes, the posterior with four. 



The fox inhabits all Europe, the cold and temperate parts 

 of Asia, and Barbary also, but not the hotter parts of Africa. 

 He abounds in North America, and is found in South America, 

 as far as Chili, and occurs in all northern and temperate cli- 

 mates, differing in size and colour, according to the circum- 

 stances of the locality. In Europe it is chiefly distinguished 

 by its long straight tail, with a white tip to it, and differs from 

 the common dog in the length, dense disposition, and soft- 

 ness of the hairs, especially of those about its tail, which is 

 bushy, much admired by the animal itself, and in cold weather 

 wrapped round its nose ; and in its smell, which is peculiarly 

 rank and disagreeable. The smell of its urine is remarkably 

 foetid, insomuch that the animal covers it in the earth. It 



