243 CARNIVORA. 



the English call werewolves." In the great beast-epic of the Middle 

 Ages, " Reynard the Fox," the wolf appears as Isengrim ; and the wolf in 

 " Little Red Riding Hood " is still a terror to countless children. 



The Wolf, Canis lupus, as it is found in Europe, may be taken as a 

 type of the group. It possesses the form of a large, long-legged, thin 

 dog, and carries its tail drooping; the head is thick, the muzzle pointed, 

 the eyes oblique, the ears always erect. The fur varies according to 

 climate, both in thickness and color: in northern countries it is long, 

 rough, and dense, bushy on the tail, erect on the neck ; in southern 

 regions it becomes shorter and rougher. The color is usually gray, 

 with a tinge of fawn color, but mixed with a great deal of black. This 

 color becomes somewhat reddish in summer; in winter more yellowish. 

 In the north, the lighter tints are predominant ; in the south, the darker. 

 Wolves that live in mountainous districts are generally large and strong; 

 those that live in plains are smaller and weaker, but equally rapacious 

 and audacious. 



The wolf is still widely diffused in Europe, with the exception of the 

 British Isles and Northern Germany. In England it was extirpated, 

 according to some accounts, by the Saxon king Edgar, and in Scotland 

 during the seventeenth century, while in the Prussian provinces it is now 

 rare. In Russia, Southern Austria, Hungary, and the Slavonic princi- 

 palities, as well as in the three Scandinavian kingdoms, it still ravages to 

 a terrible extent. In France, regular wolf-hunts are legally ordered to 

 take place every three months. The prefect of the department issues 

 directions to the ma3'ors of each commune, who name the inhabitants 

 who are to take part in them ; a fine of sixteen to one hundred francs is 

 imposed on all who shirk this duty, and a bounty is paid of six francs for 

 a whelp, twelve for a male wolf, fifteen for a female wolf not in young, 

 and fifty for a female if pregnant. M. d'Houdetot gives the number 

 of wolves annually destro3'cd in France as twelve hundred. Under the 

 old regime an office of Grand Louvcticr or Grand Wolf-hunter existed, 

 while each province had a subordinate loiiveiier, who levied a tax on each 

 inhabitant residing within a radius of two miles of the place in which 

 a wolf was killed. 



In spring and summer the wolf is found alone or in pairs; in autumn 

 he appears with his young family ; in winter he unites with his neigh- 

 bors into packs. The members of these packs work in company, range 

 the country in every direction, and become a terrible scourge. 



