MAMMALS t'ANJDAE CANIS OCCIDENTALS. 105 



Chants variabilis, MAXIM. Reise in das innere Nord-Amerika, II, 1841, 95. (White and gray.) 

 ? Lnpus gigas, TOWNSEND, Jour. Acad. N. Sc. Ph. (N. S.) II, Nov. 1850, 75. (Oregon.) 



CH. Color, pure white to grizzled gray. 



In the lack of perfect specimens of the North American wolf, I find it very difficult to throw 

 any light upon the long vexed question of our species, all before me being mutilated in some 

 way, and not allowing a satisfactory comparison with each other and with descriptions. Natu 

 ralists are divided in opinion as to the differences in American wolves, some insisting that the 

 supposed peculiarities of American specimens disappear when those of corresponding localities 

 in the two worlds are compared, and others suggesting that permanent differences are those of 

 race merely. The theory of absolute differences in the species is supported by the smaller num 

 ber of writers. Eichardson, whose opportunities for investigation have been very ample, and 

 who is surpassed by no one in the accuracy and weight of his examination of questions in 

 zoology gives the following general summary of the subject: 



" The American wolf of the northern districts is covered with long and comparatively fine 

 fur, mixed with a large quantity of shorter woolly hair, and it has a more robust form than 

 the European wolf. Its muzzle is thicker and more obtuse, its head larger and rounder, and 

 there is a sensible depression at the union of the nose and forehead. Its more arched forehead 

 is comparatively broad, the space between the ears being greater than their height. The ears 

 are shorter, wider at the base, and more acute, and have, consequently, a more conical form, 

 whilst the greater length of the hair, on the side of the neck of this wolf, makes them appear 

 even shorter than they are. Its neck, covered with a bushy fur, appears short and thick. Its 

 legs are rather short, its feet broad, with thick toes, and its tail is bushy, like the brush of a 

 fox. 



"The European wolf, on the contrary, has a coarser fur, with less of the soft wool intermixed 

 with it. Its head is narrow, and tapers gradually to form the nose, which is produced on the 

 same plane with the forehead. Its ears are higher, and somewhat nearer to each other ; their 

 length exceeds the distance between the auditory opening and the eye. Its loins are more 

 slender, its legs longer, feet narrower, and its tail is more thinly clothed with fur. 



" The shorter ears, broader forehead, and thicker muzzle of the American wolf, with the bushi- 

 ness of the hair behind the cheek, give it a physiognomy more like the social visage of an Es 

 quimaux dog, than the sneaking aspect of an European wolf. Buffon enumerates black, tawny 

 gray, and white, as the colors exhibited by the fur of the European wolves. In the American 

 northern wolves, the gray color predominates, and there is very little of the tawny hue. The 

 general arrangement of the patch of color, is, however, nearly the same in both races." 



At the same time, however, he does not wish to be understood as asserting more than a per 

 manent difference of race, leaving it to future comparison to determine whether the distinctions 

 are specific are not. It must be remembered, however, that his experience of wolves was chiefly 

 with the northern races, which, in the more severe climate, would naturally be more densely and 

 finely furred than European animals of the more southern latitudes accessible to him. 



It is difficult to occupy a middle ground between considering all our wolves as one species 

 with many varieties, or making all these varieties into as many distinct species. Thus we have 

 the pure white wolf of the Upper Missouri ; the dusky blackish plumbeous wolf of the Mis 

 souri ; the entirely black wolf of Florida and the southern States, and the entirely red or 

 rufous wolf of Texas. These vary, too, in shape as well as color, the more southern ones 

 appearing usually more slender, and standing higher on the legs, in consequence, perhaps, of 

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