THE FOX. 
267 
no terrors for them, but they have learned to connect the sound with its usual results, and immo 
diately appear on such occasions ready to take advantage of a stray or overlooked bit of game. 
According to some systematic naturalists the Foxes are placed in the genus Ganis, 
together with the dogs and the wolves. Those eminent zoologists, however, who have arranged 
the magnificent collections in the British Museum, have decided upon separating the Foxes from 
the dogs and wolves, and placing them in the genus Vulpes. To this decision they have come 
for several reasons, among which may be noted the shape of the pupil of the eye, which in the 
A GROUP OF FOXES. 
Foxes is elongated, but in the animals which compose the genus Canis is circular. The ears of 
the Foxes are triangular in shape, and pointed, and the tail is always exceedingly bushy. 
A very powerful scent is poured forth from the Fox in consequence of some glands which 
are placed near the root of the tail, and furnish the odorous secretion. Glands of a similar 
nature, but not so well developed, are found in the wolves. The tenacity with which this 
scent clings to any object which it has touched is quite extraordinary. I remember an 
instance when a Fox was captured by an old laborer, in revenge for killing his fowls, and 
which he exhibited in an outhouse for a short time. The animal could not have been in the 
shed for more than twenty minutes, and yet the odor which it evolved Avas so pertinaciously 
adherent to everything which had been touched by the animal that the shed was not free from 
the tell-tale scent for many weeks. 
