564 Al!T]SrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



families in a popular way, but the exact limits of tlie genera and 

 species are matters not yet thoroughly worked out by any zoologist. 



The true wolves were formerly abundant animals over much of 

 the Northern Hemisphere, and, although exterminated by man in 

 many regions, still persist in numbers in some well-inhabited areas. 

 Although long since gone from the British Islands, they are found to 

 this day in numerous parts of continental Europe and are abundant 

 in the less settled portions of central Asia. In North America wolves 

 formerly roamed in large packs over the great game fields and were 

 especially numerous throughout the bison country. The northern 

 " timber wolf " and the " buffalo wolf " of the great plains are pow- 

 erful beasts and are able to take down our largest animals. The 

 wolves of the Southern States are of less bulk and some species are 

 barely larger than the coyote. 



The wolf of the northern Eocky Mountain States {Cams nuhilus) 

 varies greatly in color, as usual with the American species. Among 

 the specimens in the park are some of the typical " gray wolves " and 

 some very dark, almost blackish examples — the latter from the Yel- 

 lowstone National Park. Many young wolves of this species have 

 been reared in the park. 



Two species of the smaller wolves from the Southern States are 

 shown. The reddish form from Oklahoma and Texas {Cards frus- 

 tror) resembles very much some of the species of coyotes, but his 

 skull and teeth show him to be one of the true wolves. The black 

 wolf of the swamps and forests of the Southeastern States {Canis 

 ■fioridanus) is represented by a splendid example from Arkansas. 

 It is perhaps doubtful if this is the same species as the wolf of Flor- 

 ida, but until more is known of the small wolves of Louisiana, Ar- 

 kansas, and east Texas, the specimen seems best referred to -fiorida- 

 nus. While the average coloration of these southern wolves is very 

 dark, many examples are by no means so black as the one exhibited. 



The coyote of the northern plains ( Canis latrans) is a large species 

 approximating some of the smaller wolves in size. It ranges east 

 to Wisconsin and western Indiana, where it is frequently confounded 

 with the timber wolf; old hunters and trappers often fail to dis- 

 tinguish between the animals. In some localities it is called the 

 brush wolf by those who recognize the difference between it and its 

 larger and more powerful relative. Numerous other species and 

 subspecies of the coyote are found in the Western States and in 

 Mexico. The coyote is structurally closer to the Old World jackal 

 than to the big wolves, and takes the place of the jackal in the Amer- 

 ican fauna. 



The red fox {Vulpes fulva) is very common in parts of the North, 

 but is rare in many of the Southern States. In the boreal regions 

 of Canada and the northern United States it takes on a splendid 



