84 FAUNA AMERICANA. 



reduced by hunger to eat the wild plums, and 

 other fruits, to them almost indigestible ; their 

 bark resembles the dog at first, but terminates in 

 a lengthened howl ; these animals are remarkably 

 intelligent. 



Inhabit the plains of Missouri, and other re- 

 gions west of the Mississippi, and not improbably 

 west of the Rocky Mountains. 



This is certainly a distinct species from the 

 " Canis mexicanus,^'' (Desm. Mamm. p. 199) to 

 which it is most nearly allied; the essential cha- 

 racters of the latter are " general colour cinereus, 

 varied with redd'sh spots; many blackish bands 

 extending on each side of the body from the 

 spine to the flanks." " Inhabits New Spain." 



Mr. Say thinks the " latrans^^ most probably 

 the origin of the domestic dog, so common in the 

 villages of the Indians of this region, some of 

 which still retain much of the manners and habits 

 of this species. (Beautiful prepared specimens 

 in the Philadelphia Museum, brought by the 

 exploring party.) 



Species. 



5. Canis nubilus, dusky wolf. Say. (Long's 

 Exped. to the Rocky Mountains, v. 5. p. 169.) 



Char. Essent. General colour dark dusky; 

 the hair cinereus at base, then brownish, then 

 gray, then black ; the proportion of black on the 

 hairs is so considerable as to give to the whole 



