American Giant Wolf. Canis occidentalis. 



The canine group is represented by the wolf, two species, the 

 coyote, the fox and the domestic dog. The coyote and wolf are 

 extinct, but the fox is quite likely our living gray species. The great 

 wolf was an exceedingly large one, even excelling our largest living 

 specimens. Judging from the strength of the bones it must have 

 been more clumsy and less fleet than our coyotes. Of this wolf, 

 little has heretofore been found, except a few teeth which were dis- 

 covered in Indiana and Texas. Here in the brea beds the bones are 

 numerous. Sufficient numbers have been unearthed to complete several 

 'entire skeletons. 



The smaller species, much fewer in number, are close relatives 

 of our timber wolf of which there are probably only varieties. 



The coyote is new, but it may have been ancestral to our present 

 form. The fox was a very small one and was perhaps the individual 

 ancestor of our present-day gray fox, or maybe only a variety of 

 the same species. 



The dog family, like the cat family has had a very wide dis- 

 tribution. It is found in every part of the world, as well as in 

 fossil forms. 



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