Trip] RED FOX. 



553 



north and west. 'I'lic rniit»o of this sjx'cics, therefore, includes mU 

 of Indinnn. 



J think there ean be no doubt that this species has been intro- 

 duced into Indiana since the coming of the white man. It has long 

 been a mooted question whether the red fox of North America is 

 not identical with the species of Europe. Such able mammalogists 

 as Baird and IMerriam have decided independently that the species 

 are distinct. However, the historical evidence is strongly in favor 

 of the introduction of the species and this evidence has not been 

 controverted. But it does not prove that there are no tangible 

 distinctions between the foxes of the two continents at the present 

 time, for more than two centuries have elapsed since the supposed 

 introduction of the animals, and strongly marked domestic breeds 

 of animals have been produced in a much shorter time ; and evidence 

 has been brought forward in recent years which seems to indicate 

 that environment has a marked and direct effect on species. This 

 being true, the time is ample to produce new species as is shown by 

 the rapidity with which new varieties of domestic animals are 

 evolved. 



The following is a brief summary of evidence of introduction 

 into Pennsylvania as given by Rhoads (Mamm. Penna. and N. J., 

 pp. 145-147). Kalm stated in 1770 that the red foxes were very 

 scarce in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that the Indians stated 

 that they were never in the country until the coming of white men. 

 The first red fox ever seen in Perry County, Pennsylvania, was 

 killed in 1787. The people did not, at first, know what it was, but 

 finally an old Jerseyman stated that it was an English fox and that 

 one of the first English governors of New York had imported the 

 foxes from England and turned them loose on Long Island for 

 the purpose of sport. The cave deposits from Carlisle and other 

 bone caves in Pennsylvania contain many remains of the gray fox, 

 but none of the red. I am unable to understand Mr. Rhoads' state- 

 ment that the red fox must have been in the region to the north of 

 the Great Lakes in pre-Columbian times, and do not know whether 

 he thinks that some of the foxes were imported while others are the 

 descendants of a native American race. This seems to me an im- 

 possible supposition. 



The evidence of the introduction of the species into Indiana is 

 as follows: Prince Wied (Saugethiere Nord Amerika) mentions 

 its occurrence in Pennsylvania and New York in 1832, but does 

 not mention it at New Harmony, although he speaks of specimens 

 of the gray fox. In his '^Reise" he speaks of both species at New 



