156 BULLETIN OF THE 



The variations, particularly in point of color, presented by the species un- 

 der consideration do not appear restricted to its American representatives, 

 in the north of the Old World, the wolves, according to authors, varying from 

 the white ones of Lapland and Siberia to the gray, pied, dusky, and even 

 black ones of the more southern States; and here also the differences in 

 color have been considered as indicating different species. In North America, 

 ■where the wolf is quite fully known, the differences between the large white, 

 or nearly white, races of the extreme north of the continent and the smaller 

 dusky and rufous races of the south, in size, color, in the character of the 

 pelage, and perhaps in other points, are so great that, without the inter- 

 mediate links through which these widely differing extremes almost insen- 

 sibly pass into each other, through individuals inhabiting the intervening 

 districts, these extremes might be considered as well-marked species. At 

 the far north, and " particularly in districts nearly destitute of wood," says 

 Dr. Richardson, " wolves totally white are not uncommon," while grayish 

 white is the prevailing color. The gray occupy, in general, the northern 

 and elevated parts of the continent, including the elevated and more north- 

 ern sections of the United States, and pass into the white and lighter gray 

 wolves occupying the region farther north, and into the darker colored 

 ones existing at the south. Southwards the color increases, tending more 

 and more towards black and red, till in Florida * and the Gulf States 

 dusky and black wolves predominate, and in Texas red or rufous. Yet in 

 no portion of the continent is the color of the wolves at all uniform, the 

 same packs generally presenting a great variety in this respect, even those 

 of the same litter often widely differing. Dr. Richardson mentions, under 

 his " variety slide" that of five young wolves, " leaping and tumbling over 

 each other, with all the playfulness of puppies of the domestic dog," which 

 he thought were probably of one litter, one was " pied, another entirely 

 black, and the rest showed the common gray colors." In speaking of the 

 black American wolf, which forms his "variety aler" he says the Indians 

 do not consider them to be even a distinct race, but report that one or 

 more black whelps are occasionally found in a litter of a gray wolf. Audu- 

 bon and Bachman, in referring to the red wolf of Texas (" Canis lupus 

 Linn. var. rufus " of these authors), state that this variety is by no means 

 the only one found there, " where wolves black, white, and gray are to be 

 met with from time to time. We do not think, however," say they, " that 

 this red wolf is an inhabitant of the more northerly prairies, or even of the 

 lower Mississippi bottoms, and have therefore called him the Red Texan 



* " The varieties, with more or less of black, continue to increase as we proce*' 1 far- 

 ther to the south, and in Florida the prevailing color of the wolves is b'ack." — Aun. & 

 Bach., Quad, of N. Am., Vol. II, p. 130. These observations of Audubon my own 

 inquiries made during a recent journey in this State tend to confirm. 



