THE WOLF. 



Canis Supus. Linnceus. 



PLATE V. WOLVES ATTACKING A SLEIGH. 



THE Wolf is classed with the canine genus, and has 

 so many points of resemblance with it, that some natu- 

 ralists have been induced to regard him as the same ani- 

 mal in his untamed and natural state. This, however, 

 is palpably a mistaken opinion their radical differences 

 proving them to be of different species. According to 

 Buffbn, the time of gestation in the Wolf is almost three 

 months and a half, and in the Dog, only sixty days, which 

 variation he considers as a proof of the real difference 

 between the two species. No two animals can have a 

 stronger antipathy to each other; they never meet without 

 "either flying or righting, and the combat generally ends 

 in the death of either one or both ; if the Wolf conquer, 

 he tears and devours his adversary ; the Dog, more 

 generous, contents himself with the victory, and leaves his 

 enemy where he falls, equally despised and hated. 



The Wolf is about three feet seven inches in length, 

 from the tip of his nose to the insertion of his tail ; and 

 about two feet five inches high. He resembles the Dog 

 in shape, but his head differs in figure, being long, with 

 a pointed nose, and broader in the upper part of the face. 

 His eyes are situated more obliquely in his head than 

 those of the Dog, and his eye-balls are of a fiery-green 

 color, which greatly contributes to thjs fierce and formi- 

 dable air with which he is so strongly marked. His ears 

 are sharp and erect, his jaws are much stronger than those 

 of the Dog, and his teeth, which are large and sharp, and 

 the opening of the mouth, which is shorter in proportion 

 than that of the Dog, have a fierce and frightful appear- 



VOL. II. 3. 



