VULPES VELOX.— Say. 
Swift Fox. Kit Fox. 
PLATE LII. — Male. Natural Size. 
V. gracilis, supra cano fulvaque varices, infra albus ; v. fulvo minor. 
CHARACTERS. 
Smaller Ilian the American red fox, body slender, gray above, varied with 
fulvous; beneath, white. 
SYNOXYMES. 
Kjt Fox, or small burrowing fox of tlie plains. Lewis and Clark, vol. i., p. 400. 
Vol. iii., pp. 28. 29. 
Caxis Velox, Say. Long’s Expedition, vol. ii., p. 339. 
“ “ Harlan’s Fauna, 91. 
“ “ Godman’s Nat. Hist., vol. i., p. 282. 
Canis Cinereo Aroestatus, Sabine, Franklin’s Journey, p. 658. 
“ (vulpes) Cinereo Argentatus, Richardson, Fa. B. Ame. p. 98. 
DESCRIPTION. 
This little species of Fox bears a great resemblance to our American 
red fox, in shape, but has a broader face and shorter nose than the latter 
species ; in colour it approaches nearer to the gray fox. Its form is light 
and slender, and gives indication of a considerable capacity for speed ; the 
tail is long, cylindrical, bushy, and tapering at the end. 
The entire length from the insertion of the superior incisors to the tip of 
the occipital crest, is rather more than four inches and three-tenths ; the 
least distance between the orbital cavities nine-tenths of an inch ; between 
the insertion of the lateral muscles at the junction of the frontal and pa- 
rietal bones, half an inch. The greatest breadth of this space on the 
parietal bones, thirteen-twentieths of an inch.” — (Say.) The hair is of 
two kinds, a soft dense and rather woolly fur beneath, intermixed with 
longer and stronger hairs. 
COLOUR. 
The fur on the back, when the hairs are separately examined, is from 
