744 



Datura! 3& 



European Wolf is yellowish or fulvous gray : 

 hair harsh and strong, longest below the ears 

 and on the neck, shoulders, and haunches : 

 muzzle black ; cheeks and parts above the 

 eyes ochreous or gray : upper lip and chin 

 white : eyes oblique : tail straight or nearly 

 so ; and a blackish streak or band on the 

 fore-legs about the carpus. Cuvier states 

 that this Wolf, which more commonly infests 

 the western countries of Europe, is found 

 from Egypt to Lapland, and seems to have 

 passed over into America. The French 

 wolves are generally browner and somewhat 

 I 



WOLF. (OANIS LUFOS.) 



smaller than those of Germany ; while those 

 of Russia are longer, and appear more bulky 

 and formidable from the great quantity of 

 long coarse hair on the cheeks, throat, and 

 neck. In Sweden and Norway the Wolves 

 are very similar to the Russian race, but are 

 lighter in colour, and in winter totally white. 

 The Alpine Wolves are brownish-gray, and 

 smaller than the French ; those of Italy and 

 to the eastward towards Turkey, fulvous. 

 There is no doubt whatever that Wolves 

 formerly lurked in the uncleared woody dis- 

 tricts of Britain ; and there is sufficient his- 

 torical evidence to prove that the Romans 

 endeavoured to extirpate them ; but although 

 they considerably thinned these ferocious 

 and cowardly beasts of prey, enough was left 

 for their Saxon and Norman successors to 

 do ; and notwithstanding the laws of Edgar 

 were specially directed to their extirpation, 

 by liberating the Welsh from the tax of gold 

 and silver on condition of an annual tribute 

 of three hundred Wolves, and the punish- 

 ment awarded to English criminals was com- 

 muted to a delivery of a certain number of 

 Wolves' tongues, yet the vast wild tracts and 

 extensive forests of ancient Britain were 

 holds too strong even for his wise and vi- 

 gorous measures. 



There are several species of this animal, 

 the chief of which is the BLACK WOLF, fre- 

 quent in the Pyrenees and to the south of 

 those mountains, where it is more numerous 

 than the Common Wolf above described, and 

 exceeds it in strength and stature. " The 

 Spanish Wolves," says Col. Hamilton Smith, 

 " congregated formerly in the passes of the 

 Pyrenees in large troops, and even now the 

 lobo will accompany strings of mules as soon 

 as it becomes dusky. They are seen bound- 

 ing from bush to bush by the side of tra- 

 vellers, and keeping parallel with them as 

 they proceed, waiting an opportunity to 

 select a victim ; and often succeeding, unless 

 the muleteers can reach some place of safety 

 before dark." 



WOLF-FISH. (Anarrhicas lupus.) An 

 Acanthopterygious fish, belonging to the 

 Gobioidece family, generally of a large size, 

 and furnished with jaws so well-armed as to 

 render it a dangerous inhabitant of the 

 deep. The whole body is smooth and slimy : 

 the jaws, vomer, and palate-bones are armed 

 with large bony tubercles which support on 

 their summits little enamelled teeth, but the 

 anterior teeth are conical and longer. There 

 are six gill-rays, and neither caeca nor air- 

 bladder. This fish inhabits the North Sea, 

 being common enough as low as the French 

 coast. They sometimes attain the length of 

 six or seven feet, but their more common 

 size is from eighteen inches to three feet, the 

 latter of which will weigh about twenty 

 pounds. It has a hoary colour, with a 

 whitish belly, dark head with white specks, 

 and two rows of large blackish lateral spots. 

 It feeds upon Crustacea and shell-fish, which 

 it breaks in pieces with its teeth. Its motion 

 is serpentine, like that of an eel, and when 



it is seen reposing in the cleft of a rock its 

 body is undulated. Fabricius says, that 

 on the Greenland coast it associates itself 

 with the common Lump-fish, migrating 

 along with it ; that is, retiring from the 

 deep sea in autumn, and returning again in 

 spring. Its great size and formidable teeth 

 do not protect it from the assaults of the 

 Lump-fish, for the latter, when alarmed for 

 the safety of its offspring, pursues the Wolf- 

 fish, and fastening upon its neck persecutes 

 it to death. 



WOLVERINE. [SeeGoLO.] 



WOMBAT. (Phascolomys Wombat.-) This 

 little bear-like Marsupial quadruped is 

 known in New South Wales, and called by 

 the natives Womat, Wombat, or Wombach, 

 according to the different dialects, or per- 

 haps to the different rendering of the wood- 

 rangers who brought the information. It 

 burrows like the badger, and on the con 



WO3JBA.T. (PHASCOl.OMYS WOMBAT.) 



tinent does not quit its retreat till dark ; but 

 it feeds at all times on the uninhabited is- 

 lands, and was commonly seen foraging 

 amongst the sea refuse on the shore, though 

 the coarse grass seemed to be its usual nou- 



