138 



NORTH AMERICAN, FAUNA 66 



to North American north of Lat. 40° N or 45° N, but was either scarce 

 or absent from most of the unbroken mixed hardwood forests (to the 

 south of this) where the gray fox was paramount." 



The early Maryland colonists originally hunted the gray fox, but 

 apparently at a very early date the European red fox was imported for 

 hunting purposes and was released at various localities, one of which 

 was the Eastern Shore. Since the red fox is now found throughout the 

 whole of Maryland, as well as much of the Southeastern United States, 

 the question arises whether these southern red foxes are the European 

 variety or native North American red foxes which have extended their 

 range southward. 



Churcher (1959, pp. 513-520) has established that the European red 

 fox and the North American red fox are subspecies of the same species 

 Vulpes vulpes, the various subspecies intergrading in several major 

 characters (shape of upper first molar, breadth of rostrum, develop- 

 ment of sagittal crest) from western Europe, through Siberia, Alaska, 

 Canada, to eastern North America. The two end products, the west- 

 ern European red fox and the eastern North American red fox are, 

 however, quite different animals even if only subspecifically distinct. 

 The European red fox is larger and has a more robust skull than its 

 eastern American relative. It also has a shorter, broader rostrum, 

 a relatively narrower interorbital region, and a well-developed sagittal 

 crest which forms a distinct ridge along the top of the skull. In the 

 native eastern American red fox the sagittal crest is occasionally de- 

 veloped but usually not into a conspicuous ridge. It narrowly diverges 

 anteriorly into the temporal ridges which enclose a conspicuous V on 

 the top of the skull. This conspicuous V formed by the temporal ridges 

 is usually not as well developed, or is lacking, in the European form. 

 The shape of the first upper molar also differs in the two subspecies. 

 In the European variety this tooth is large and square in general out- 

 line, the buccal cingulum is rounded, the talon broad, and the mesial 

 face convex. In the American form, the tooth gives the general appear- 

 ance of being elongated laterally ; the buccal face is deeply indented, 

 the talon elongated, the mesial and distal faces concave, and there is 

 a small protoconule. 



All the Maryland red foxes (and those from farther south) that I 

 have examined show the characters of the native eastern North Amer- 

 ican form, and there seems to be no indication of intermixture with 

 European fox blood. In fact, Maryland specimens appear to be indistin- 

 guishable from those of Wisconsin, Michigan, southern Ontario, and 

 New England, where I presume there was little or no importation of 

 European stock by early colonists. It is possible that with the clearing 

 of land in the Southeastern United States, the habitat became well 

 suited to the native American red fox, which then invaded the area 



