CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CAR X IVOR A. 



23; 



The following story is less tragic, but not less exciting. In Hungary, a man and a boy, on a 

 sledge, were proceeding, just at dusk, toward a village. As they emerged from a wood the 

 owner, who was seated behind with his back to the horses, saw a wolf rush out of the angle of 

 the forest, and give chase to the sledge at the top of his speed. The man shouted to the boy 

 who was driving, "Farkas ! farkas !" — A wolf! a wolf! — "Itze het ! itze het !" — Drive on ! and the 

 lad, looking round in terror, beheld the animal just clearing the gripe which ran along the road 

 they had passed. Quick as lightning, with shout and whip, and with all his might, he urged the 

 horses to gain the village. Away they flew at their fullest stretch, as if sensible of the danger 

 behind them. The man turned his seat, and urged the boy still more energetically to lash tin- 

 horses to their very utmost speed. He did not need any further incentive, but pushed on the 

 nags with frantic exertion. The sledge flew over the slippery road with fearful speed; but th« 

 wolf urged more his utmost pace, and gained fast upon it. The village was distant about two 

 hundred yards below the brow of the hill ; nothing but the wildest speed could save them, and 

 the man felt that the wolf would inevitably spring upon them before they could get to the 

 bottom. Both shouted wildly as they pursued their impetuous career, the sledge swerving 

 frightfully from one side of the road to the other, and threatening every moment to turn over. 

 The man then drew his thick bunda — sheep-skin — over his head ; he looked behind and saw 

 the fierce, panting beast within a few yards of him ; he thought he felt his hot breath in his own 

 face; he ensconced his head again in his bunda, and, in another moment, the wolf sprang upon 

 his back, and gripped into the thick sheep-skin that covered his neck. 



With admirable presence of mind the bold-hearted peasant now threw up both his hands, and 

 grasping the wolf's head and neck with all his strength, hugged him with an iron clutch to his 

 shoulders. "Itze het!" shouted the brave fellow, and holding his enemy in a death grip, 

 they swept into the village, dragging the fierce brute after them, "in spite of his frantic efforts to 

 disengage himself. The shouts of the boy and man, with the mad speed and noise of the horses, 

 brought the villagers out to see what was the matter. " Farkas ! farkas !" shouted both, and the 

 peasants immediately seeing their perilous position, gave chase with their axes, calling out to the 

 man to hold on bravely. At length the boy succeeded in slackening the speed of the animals, 

 the sledge stopped, and the peasants, rushing on, dispatched the ferocious creature upon the 

 man's back, whose arms were so stiffened with the immense muscular exertion he had so long 

 maintained, that he could hardly loosen them from the neck of the dead wolf. 



TILE JACKAL. 



The Jackal has the dental formula of the doo;. The pupil of the eye is round: the color 

 .yellowish gray above, whitish below; thighs and legs yellow; ears ruddy; muzzle very pointed : 



