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VEIL TEP.lt ATA. 



The W olf, Canis lupus^ is always and everywhere an untamed, ferocious. animal, yet, strange 

 to .-ay, in its structure ami physiological characteristics, it is very similar to the dog. On ac- 

 count of its superior strength and eneigy, and its being supposed to be the progenitor of the 

 dog, it is placed by some naturalists at the head of the Canidce. It consists of many 

 varieties, differing somewhat in size and vigor, but all ravenous, daring, and destructive. Being 

 spread over a considerable portion of the world, and coming frequently in collision with man, its 

 history makes a prominent figure in the annals of the brute creation. It is associated with the 

 early settlements of most countries as a dangerous enemy of man, and is hence woven into the 

 tales, ballads, legends, adventures, and fables which embellish the early literature of most nations. 

 Adventures with wolves furnish some of the most exciting tales of hunters in Europe as well as 

 America. The frightful story of "Little Red Riding-Hood," which has peopled the imaginations 

 of so many children with mischievous terrors, is a familiar example of the impressions which these 

 creatures have made on the popular mind. 



The ('..inniou Wolf of Europe and America is of the size of a large dog; its usual color is a 

 yellowish gray: the hair is strong and harsh, and longest around the neck, shoulders, ami 

 haunches. The. muzzle is black, the upper lip and chin white, the eyes oblique, tail bushy, hut 

 carried low: height of the shoulder twenty-seven to twenty-nine inches. This is the most com- 

 mon aspect of the Bpecies, but it varies in different countries. In the high northern countries of 

 Europe ami America, owing to the effect of climate, it sometimes becomes white, or nearly so. 

 One of the varieties i- much darker, ami is called the Black Wolf, as well in Europe as America. ' 

 In different countries it varies not only in color, but in other characteristics. The French wolves 

 are generally browner ami smaller than those of Germany; the Russian race is longer, and ap- 

 pears inoi'' bulky and formidable from the great quantity of long coarse hair on the cheek-. 



