THE WOLF 501 



are whitish. The tail, which is considerably less than half the length of the head 

 and body, may be tipped with black. From this ordinary type of coloration there 

 may be variations, owing to the development of a more or less marked gray or red 

 tinge ; while in some cases the fur may be much paler than usual, and in others 

 nearly or quite black. In Europe the light-colored varieties appear to be charac- 

 teristic of northern, and the dark of southern regions, black or blackish wolves 

 being not uncommon in Spain. As in Europe there is a black race of the ordinary 

 wolf, so black specimens of the woolly variety occur in Tibet ; these animals having 

 shaggy fur of a uniform black color, except the muzzle, feet, and patch on the chest, 

 which are white. More uncertainty has prevailed as to whether the Japanese wolf 

 (C. hodophylax) is distinct from the European form ; the Indian wolf is regarded, 

 however, by Mr. Blanford (although not by Professor Mivart) as entitled to rank 

 as a separate species. 



The North American wolf has frequently been regarded as specifically distinct 

 from the European one under the name of C. occidentalis. Dr. C. H. Merriatn 

 has, however, long regarded the two forms as specifically identical, and the same 

 view is taken by Professor Mivart. The latter writer observes that although the fur 

 of most American wolves is less red than is generally the case with European speci- 

 mens, especially on the legs and the hinder part of the head, yet North European 

 examples have a nearly similar coloration. Then again, the American skins gen- 

 erally have more black on the back than most European ones ; but this tendency to 

 blackness is still more marked in Spanish wolves. As in Europe, there is in 

 America great individual and racial variation in the color of the wolf. Thus, ac- 

 cording to Mr. S. F. Baird, there is a pure white wolf on the Upper Missouri, a 

 dusky-blackish wolf on the Lower Missouri, a black wolf in Florida and the South- 

 ern United States, and a red wolf in Texas. There is, moreover considerable 

 difference in respect to size and shape ; the southern wolves being smaller, more 

 slender, and more ' ' leggy ' ' than those from the extreme north ; while they have 

 also shorter and closer fur. The southern limit of the wolf in America is the State 

 of Guanajuato, in Mexico. Including, then, the whole of the varieties mentioned 

 above, with the exception of the Indian wolf, under a single specific title, the range 

 of the common wolf will be very extensive ; and will embrace the whole of Europe, 

 the greater part of Asia to the northward of the Himalayas, and as far east as 

 Japan, and nearly the whole of North America. 



In Europe the wolf has disappeared from Britain and Central and Northern 

 Germany, but still lives in the wilder or more mountainous districts of the rest of the 

 Continent, being especially abundant in many parts of Russia both European and 

 Asiatic. Wolves were formerly abundant in the British Islands ; in Yorkshire they 

 were common in the reign of Richard II.; while in the time of Cromwell parts of 

 Ireland were much infested by them. Mr. Harting states that the wolf became 

 extinct in England during the reign of Henry VII. ; that it survived in Scotland 

 until 1743 ; and that the last was killed in Ireland, according to Richardson, in 

 1770, or, according to Sir J. E. Tennent, subsequently to 1766. 



In America, owing to the rapid spread of civilization, wolves are disappearing, 

 or becoming scarce in all but the wilder districts. Professor Mivart, from data 



