MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. ree 
- finger on any one species of wolf and say this is the stock from 
which the dog sprang. It has been observed that the domestic 
dog in countries where only partially domesticated resembles 
very closely its wild neighbors, while in more civilized lands 
where the dog has become the companion of ran, it is more 
difficult to detect the resemblance to any wild race. The mon- 
uments of Egypt contain drawings of various species of do 
mestic dogs and there is no doubt that in every period and in 
all countries man has brought this willing servant under his 
yoke. Careful investigations therefore seem to have proved 
that our various races of dogs have been derived from various 
species of wild dogs with round pupils which different peoples 
have independently domesticated and finally caused to in 
terbreed. The influences of civilization have constantly in- 
creased the natural tendency to variation until different breeds 
of dogs differ from each other more than the most widely 
diverse species of the wild representatives of the genus Canis. 
In Minnesota we have representatives of two genera, and but 
three species. 
GENUS CANIS. LINN. 
This genus contains the larger species with long limbs and 
round pupils; the post-orbital process of the frontal bone is very 
convex, curving strongly downward. The fox-like wolves of 
South America furnish the transition between the genera Canis 
and Vulpes. 
Canis lupus L. 
The evidence that our timber-wolf, socalled, is identical with 
the wolf of Europe, has been very complete, even since the 
days of Richardson, and, although Prof. Baird cast the great 
weight of his opinion against such identity, the greater number 
of modern authors in Europe as well as America, now consider 
them the same. Dr. J. A. Allen in his list of the ‘‘Mammalia 
of Massachusetts” has summarized the evidence in a way quite 
satisfactory to the writer, and we shall enter into no discussion 
of the subject. 
The following tabulation of the varieties found is extracted 
from the Zoology of the 100th Meridian Reports. 
a. WHITE WoLves—Canis lupus, albus SABINE, etc. 
White, pure or washed with yellowish, with or without 
black-tipped tail. Among the largest. Northerly or 
Alpine. 
