MAMMALS-CANIDAE-VULPUS MACROURUS. 
131 
The tail is very full and densely hairy ; it is long, though perhaps not exceeding that of the 
red fox in proportion. When the lateral hairs of opposite sides are extended, the distance 
between their tips measures from seven and a half to eight and a half inches, instead of the 
six or seven and a half, as in the common red fox. The longest hairs measure about four 
inches. The longest hairs of the back and sides exceed four inches in length. 
The colors of this species are very similar to those of the corresponding varieties of the red 
fox. In the light variety the prevailing tint is rather a pale ochre yellow than a red, whence 
the species might with great propriety he called the yellow fox. The yellow is brightest 
anteriorly on the sides; there is, however, a wash of reddish along the dorsal line. The hinder 
part of the back is variegated with yellowish white, this color annulating the long hairs, which 
are otherwise black at the base and rufous at tip. The under fur is everywhere plumbeous at 
base, and of a chestnut color terminally along the dorsal line, changing through ochre yellow 
to yellowish white on the sides. There is, however, a darker yellowish cross on the shoulders, 
separating the yellowish white of the side of body and neck. The upper part of the head is 
grizzled like the lower part of the back. The throat, chest, and under parts generally, 
including the whole belly and inside of legs and thighs are of a clear, yellowish-white, without 
any red, the plumbeous base of the wool showing occasionally through. The amount of white 
is thus greater than in the red fox. The base of the ears is yellow ; the greater portion, how¬ 
ever, of their convexity is uniform black. The tail is of a duller yellow than the body, lighter 
on the sides, the long hairs tipped with black, clouding the tail with this color ; the tip of the 
tail is entirely yellowish-white. The fore feet are black ; on the hind feet, however, this color 
only extends in a narrow line on the anterior face. 
The following table of measurements can be only considered as approximate, as the specimens 
are all hunters’ skins, and do not preserve their original proportions. 
Measurements. 
A. 
No. 23. 
No. 1006. 
No. 1007. 
No. 24. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
Nose to tip of tail..... 
33 
31 
33 
30 
32 
Tail to end of vertebrae_ 
18 
16 
15* 
14+ 
T il to end of hairs..... 
22 
20 
18+ 
19* 
17+ 
Breadth of tail. 
9 
8 * 
8 } 
8 
8 * 
The fresh measurement of Ho. 1007 gives two feet as the total length; the others are the 
same as in the dried skin. I have, however, given the present length as skin for the purpose 
of more readily making the comparison. Number 24 is a cross fox, the others are red foxes. 
The specimen No. A is in the collection of Captain Stansbury, now deposited in the Patent 
Office, and served as the basis of the description of the species in Captain Stansbury’s report. 
This report was published in May, 1852, and extra copies of the zoological portion were 
distributed as a separate work in June, 1852, and bearing this date. On almost the last day 
of June, a notice of this same species, under the name of Vulpes utah, was presented to the 
Academy of Natural Sciences, and published about the middle of July, more than a month 
