576 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxv. 



CANIS OCCIDENTALS (Richardson). 

 TIMBER WOLF. 



It seems worth while to put on record what appears to be an 

 authentic specimen of a wolf in this (Lawrence) county. The 

 Indianapolis Star contained a somewhat sensational account of the 

 capture of a wolf by a young girl at Springville, near Bedford. I 

 wrote to the man on whose farm the animal was taken, and he replied 

 that the story was substantially correct. The animal was first seen 

 creeping under a deserted house, and some men were called who 

 drove it out and shot it. The skin was disposed of and the carcass 

 fell a prey to various carrion eaters, so that I was unable to see and 

 verify the identification. Mr. Cobb, the farmer who furnished me 

 with a crude description of the animal, says: 



I noticed bis tushes [canines] were fully li inches long, and I think they had 

 been broken at the tips [length doubtless overestimated]. The hide measured 

 6 feet from tip of nose to tip of tail, but when stretched on a 12-inch board 

 the body part was not over 3* or 4 feet long. The tail was long and bushy, 

 something like a fox. The sides were gray, but the back was mixed gray and 

 black, something like a rabbit. The tail was sort of yellowish gray. I suppose 

 he would have been 2 feet in height. 



Allowing for errors and exaggerations, this description does not 

 seem to be applicable to a dog or fox. The only other possibility is 

 the coyote. The timber wolf seems, however, to have survived the 

 coyote in the hills of southern Indiana and has been reliably recorded 

 from Brown, the adjoining county on the north, in recent years. 



MEPHITIS PUTIDA (Boitard). 

 SKUNK. 



Skunks seemed to be common in the region, but I did not succeed 

 in locating a den on the university property, nor were their tracks 

 often seen. Some skins in the possession of a fur buyer were exam- 

 ined, and they appeared to belong to this species. 



LUTREOLA VISON (Shreber). 

 MINK. 



Tracks were seen frequently: on one occasion they passed across 

 the doorstep. 



PUTORIUS NOVEBORACENSIS Emmons. 

 WEASEL. 



Tracks of these animals were very numerous. A single one was 

 trapped in a hole at the base of a tree, . 



