No. V.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



655 



tail is bushy, grey tipped with brown ; the legs are strong, covered with dark-brown 

 hair ; nails of both fore and back feet strong, short, and arched. 



Cards Lupus — Albus. White Wolf. 



However great the dimensions of the preceding animal may appear, they are surpassed 

 by that of a Wolf entirely white, which was killed at Fort Enterprise during the second 

 winter that the Expedition remained in the interior. A plate of it has been engraved to 

 accompany the narrative. Its length was four feet four inches, its height two feet ten 

 inches, and the length of the tail was nineteen inches. The specimen was preserved, 

 but proving too bulky was left behind. It was previously known that white Wolves 

 existed in the vicinity of the Arctic Seas, and it is probable that the loss of colour is 

 effected by the severity of the winter season ; though this change does not appear to 

 occur in all cases, because the Wolves, seen at Melville Island during the winter of 

 1819*20, though lighter than usual, were not white, nor were they of suet large size 

 as that killed at Fort Enterprise. 



Canis Vulpes. Fox. 

 Foxes are met with over the whole wooded part of the country. The different 

 kinds, which are well known to and distinguished by the huntsmen, are all objects of 

 commerce, above 8000 skins having been imported by the Hudson's Bay Company in 

 1822. The different Foxes (with the exception of the Arctic) which have been known 

 to exist in the northern parts of North America, have until lately been referred by 

 naturalists to the species at the head of this article, and were considered as varie- 

 ties of it : the same opinion seems to have existed amongst the inhabitants of that 

 country, for both the Indians as well as European Americans have traditions that they 

 originated from Europe. The former suppose them to have passed from the Old 

 World over the - Arctic ice ; the latter, that they were imported for the purpose of 

 affording amusement to hunters. The former opinion is correct, so far, as that the same 

 animals appear to be found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia ; but it is more 

 probable that the whole of the Arctic regions may be considered as their natural 

 habitat, than that any one portion of it has supplied the others with the animal. The 

 opinion of the specific identity with the common European Fox (Canis Vulpes) appears 

 now with propriety to be abandoned ; whether there are sufficient grounds to separate 

 the whole from each other may be doubted, but as they have all been lately described 

 as distinct species by M. Desmerest, his arrangement has been adopted, as affording 

 more perspicuity in the elucidation of their differences. The skins of these animals, 

 received by the Hudson's Bay Company, are well known in trade as those of the 

 red, cross, silver, blue, kitt, and white foxes ; and the animals from whence these are 

 obtained, all, in some degree., fell under the observation of the Expedition. 



