26o THE MEXICAN WOLF. 



third on the belly. On the flanks are tranfverfe 

 bands from the back to the belly. The tail is 

 gray, with a yellow fpot in the middle. The 

 legs are barred with gray and brown. This is 

 the moil; beautiful of all wolves, and its fkin 

 Ihould be elieemed for its variety of colours *. 

 But nothing indicates it to be a different fpecies 

 from the common kind, which varies from gray 

 to while, from white to black, and a mixture 

 of both, without changing its fpecies : And we 

 learn from Fernandes, that theie wolves of New- 

 Spain vary like the European wolf ; for, even 

 in this country, they are not all marked accor- 

 ding to our defcription, fome of them being of 

 a uniform colour, and even totally white t* 



XIV. 



• 



It might be fuppofed, on account oi" the variety of co- 

 lours, that the Mexican wolf" is a lynx, which, like the wolf, 

 is found in both Continents. But a bare infpeftion of the 

 figure given by Recchi will fiiow, that it has a perfeft rcfem- 

 blance to the wolf, and none at all to the lynx. 



f Cuetlachtli, feu lupus Indicus Jo. Fabri. Xoloitfcuintli. 

 Forma, colore, morlbus, et mole corporis lupo noftrati fimilis 

 eft, atque adeo ejus (ut mihi quidem videtur) fpeciei, fed am- 

 pliori capite. Tauros vero ficut et noftras lupus aggreditur, 

 et interdum etiam homines ; reperiuntur nonnuUi candentes. 



Vivit in calidis Novae Hifpaniae locis ; Pernand. Hift. 



Anim. Nov. Hifp. p. 7. 



