98 



LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



howtver, is now known to be incorrect, it being well ascer- 

 tained that these animals survived to a much later date, not 

 improbably, indeed, nearly to the middle of the eighteenth 

 century in Sutherland, where tradition points to the last Wolf 

 having been slain in the year 1743. 



Much the same story is told with regard to Ireland, where 

 in the middle of the seventeenth century, a special Order in 

 Council was promulgated in Dublin relating to the destruction 



Skull oi Fox. 



of Wolves, on account of their apparently increasing numbers 

 at that date. Even as late as about the year 1700 they still 

 existed in the great forests on the borders of counties Wicklow 

 and Carlow. When their final extermination was accomplished 

 history telleth not, although it was probably some time between 

 the years 1766 and 1770, inclusive. 



As being no longer an inhabitant of Britain, it will be un- 

 necessary to enter into the consideration of the habits of the 

 Wolf. 



IL THE FOX. CANIS VULPES. 



Cams vulpes et C. alopex^ Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12 vol. i. p. 59 



(1766). 



Vulpes vtOHAjmis, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal vol. xi. 

 P- 5S9. 



