128 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—-GENERAL REPORT. 
Black Fox .—The color here is a uniform lustrous black, with a distinct white tip to the tail. 
On the top and sides of the head, however, and on the posterior half of the back, including the 
outside of the thighs, the long hairs are grayish-silvery at the end, (the extreme tips black,) 
grizzling the back very conspicuously. The same feature is observable at the base of the tail 
and to some distance on its sides ; it is also seen slightly on the shoulders. The under fur is of 
a sooty color, not very dark, however, and becoming lighter on the sides of the neck and 
flanks. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue 
number. 
Sex & 
age. 
Locality. 
When 
collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Original 
number. 
Nature of 
specimen. 
1000 
1001 
1190 
Fort Dalles, Oregon_ 
.do. 
April, 1855 
Jan. 1855 
1855 
Dr. George Suckley_ 
_do_-_ 
67 
41 
Skin. .... 
..do_ 
O 
Des Chutes Valley_ 
Lt. Williamson, collected by 
Dr. J. S. Newberry. 
In the only one of the above specimens (1190) in which the feet are entire, the soles are much 
less densely furred than in the cross foxes, and more nearly resembling the red fox of the eastern 
States in this respect. It is by no means certain that these specimens are not black varieties of 
the Vulpes macrourus. 
Measurements of specimens of different varieties. 
Current 
number. 
Nose to root | 
of tail. 
Tail to end of 
vertebrae. 
Tail to end 
of hairs. 
Width of 
hairs. 
Ears 
posteriorly. 
RED. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
962 
24 
m 
17 
6 $ 
1388 
28 
13$ 
16 + 
459 1 
25 
18 
6 
458 1 
24 j 
16 
6 $ 
457 1 
28? 1 
17 $ 
6 $ 
CROSS. 
79 
30 
14 
16 
6 $ 
1019 
26 
17 
1020 
26 
17 
20 $ 
BLACK. 
1000 
24 
16 
19 
8 
1001 
29? 
14 
17 
8 
1190 
24 
14 $ 
17 
7 
4 
1 Catalogued under the head of Vulpes macrourus. 
