552 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



VULPES FULVUS (Desmarest) . 

 RED FOX. 



Canis fulvus Desmarest, Mammalogie, Vol. I, p. 203, 1820. 

 Vulpes fulvus DeKay, Zool. N. Y. State, Mammalia, p. 44, 1842. 



Hahn, Proc. U. S. Nat. Miis., Vol. 32, p. 462, 1907. 

 Vulpes vulpes Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. for 



1893, p. 138, 1894. 

 Diagnostie characters. — Color of back fulvous or rusty yellow. 

 This, with the generic characters, should serve to distinguish the 

 species. 



Description. — Back fulvous or rusty yellow, darkest on loins and 

 shoulders and with grayish l)ands on the hairs of the rump and 

 flanks which give a grizzled appear to those regions. Most of the 

 under parts only slightly paler than the back but there is a narrow 

 line of whitish along the middle of the belly which broadens out 

 and extends down the inner side of the legs ; lower part of face and 

 chin and throat also whitish. Tip of nose, end of tail, outer side 

 of legs and all of the feet blackish, the extreme tip of the tail 

 being whitish, however. The ears are whitish on the inner side 

 and edges, but black on the convex surface, except at the base. 



The cross fox, silver fox and black fox are color varieties of this 

 species. In the cross fox there is a broad, indistinct bank of black- 

 ish across the shoulders and another longitudinal band between 

 them. The silver fox has blackish fur tipped with silvery gray, and 

 the black fox is a melanistic form with the color chiefly black. 



The ears are very large, the legs are long and slender and the 

 tail very large, soft and bushy. The fur consists of two kinds of 

 hairs, the soft under fur being concealed by long hairs. The lat- 

 ter are evenly distributed on the tail and do not there form a mane 

 as they do in the gray fox. 



Measurements. — From Miller I take the following: Total 

 length, 1,000 mm. (40 in.) ; tail, 360 mm. (14% in.) ; hind foot, 

 150 mm. (6 in.). 



Skull and teeth. — The skull can be distinguished from all other 

 north America Canidae (except closely related forms) by the long, 

 slender rostrum. In the region between the eyes it is somewhat 

 flattened dorsally, but is not nearly as broad, nor is the braincase 

 as flat as in the gray fox. On the other hand, the teeth are broader 

 and heaviei*, the canirK^s being also much longer. 



Range. — From southern Canada to Georgia and from the At- 

 lantic to the Rocky Mountains. Related forms are found to the 



