CANIS LUPUS. 9 



us we found no satisfactory distinctive character, though the V-shaped 

 stripe over the shoulders was more marked than in most European wolves. 

 We at first thought that the skull would provide us with distinguishing 

 characters in its greater concavity above between the orbits, the posi- 

 tion of the suture between the palatine and maxillary bones on the 

 palate, and in certain details of dental structure. An extended exami- 

 nation, however, of crania belonging to both varieties convinced us that 

 not one of these differences was constant, and that no other such could 

 be depended on. 



Our Plate IV., representing the Indian Wolf, is drawn from a 

 specimen living in the Zoological Gardens. 



Its coloration varies from greyish red to reddish white, with a touch 

 of grey, many of the hairs being black-tipped ; there is generally black 

 on the back, especially a V-shaped patch behind the shoulders. The 

 limbs are paler than the body. The tail is slightly or decidedly 

 tipped with black. The underparts of the body are more or less 

 white *. 



This variety appears to be mainly confined to the plains south of the 

 Himalayas. It is said but rarely to be found west of the Indus or in 

 Lower Bengal, and it is unknown in Ceylon as far as present evidence 

 goes. 



As to the habits of the Indian Wolf, Mr. Blanford informs us it does 

 not associate in large packs, but that two or more will combine to attack 

 man, while six or eight sometimes hunt together. A large number of 

 Indian children are carried off each year by them. Their depredations 

 are facilitated by the superstition of the people, who are very averse to 

 killing a wolf, thinking its blood injures the bearing of their fields. 

 Tales are current in India, as in Europe, of male infants reared by 

 wolves, but are of doubtful authenticity at the best. 



* A specimen has newly arrived at the British Museum from Pekin. It is a 

 rather small animal, with a well-marked patch of black on the back of the neck, 

 continued backwards as an interrupted dorsal streak. The tail is pale ochre towards 

 its root, but its distal half is redder and it is black at the point. The ears, snout, 

 back of head, and limbs are redder than in C. pallipes or than in most specimens of 

 the European Wolf. 



C 



