SILVER FOX FARMING. 27 
hereditary trait among foxes, daughters of prolific mothers being 
themselves generally prolific. How rapidly other desirable characters 
can be incorporated remains to be determined. As with poultry, 
horses, and other farm animals, so is it with foxes. Each breeder 
should strive to perfect his animals according to some standard. 
Eventually there may be several standards based upon varied uses 
or requirements. 
The process of developing improved strains can undoubtedly be 
shortened by taking advantage of local variations in foxes. One of 
the lines of investigation conducted by the Biological Survey includes 
the geographic variations of North American mammals, and from 
this it is possible to say not only where silvers and crosses occur most 
frequently, but where the largest and the best-furred foxes are found. 
Upward of 20 species or subspecies of red foxes have been named in 
the United States and Canada. The medium-sized foxes along the 
North Atlantic coast are notable for their fine silky hair. The 
largest foxes are in Alaska and on the Plains northward from Minne- 
sota and North Dakota. The large size of Alaskan coast foxes is 
offset by long, coarse pelage, which is decidedly longer on the shoulders 
and back of the neck than on the back and hips. It remains to be 
seen whether in crossing them with the smaller, finer-haired animals 
the progeny will be large or small, coarse-haired or fine, or inter- 
mediates. There can be little doubt, however, that in the long run 
such a cross will result in larger fine-haired foxes than any now exist- 
ing. The northern part of the red fox's range has, as a rule, a larger 
proportion of silvers than has the southern. An exception is found 
in the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon, and California, 
where, judging from specimens in the National Museum, the percentage 
of melanistic specimens is very large. They have little to recommend 
them besides color, however, as they are small and have rather 
coarse fur. 
Black and silver foxes are found in North America practically 
throughout the range of the red fox. The best-furred animals do not 
occur, however, throughout this range, but are obtained mainly in 
restricted areas. For instance, skins from the Tanana River district 
in Alaska and the adjacent part of Yukon Territory, from certain 
other parts of northern Canada, and from the North Atlantic coast 
from Maine to Labrador, including Prince Edward and other islands, 
are of about the same grade. This is recognized by the leading 
London furriers, who report that "in our opinion, fox skins from 
Labrador, Newfoundland, or Alaska are equal in quality to those 
from Prince Edward Island." 
It is not known that any particular geographic race of foxes 
is especially characterized by fecundity or docility. These qualities 
