THE WOLF 



THE wolf represents the typical form among Canidce, 

 and it possesses all the ordinary characters belonging 

 to this group in their highest degree of development. 

 There is but one family in the Cynoidea, that of the dogs, 

 and all species of his group fall within the limits of a single 

 genus. " Canidce display likenesses in structure nearly as 

 great as those which the cats exhibit," remarks W. N. 

 Lockington (" Riverside Natural History"). Professor 

 Huxley has broken up the aggregate into two groups, dog- 

 like or Thooid animals, and the Alopecoids those which 

 most resemble wolves. These are marked off from each 

 other by peculiarities of the base of the skull and those 

 parts developed around it. Canis, moreover, is a genus 

 which, while it varies very greatly among its included forms, 

 is physiologically so nearly identical that, as Lockington 

 observes, " there is no proof that any species of this family 

 is infertile with any other." 



Wolves are among the wildest, wariest, and most widely 

 removed from human association of all animals. The 

 question whether all kinds red, black, white, and gray 

 are of one species or many, may be dismissed at once. 

 Nobody is able to say what specific characteristics really 

 are. Canis lupus is one of the most widely distributed of 



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