76 TOWNSEND'S LUPUS GIGAS. 



L. gigas. L. occidentalis. 

 Length between the occiptal ridge and incisor teeth, 10.7 9.5 

 Inter-zygomatic diameter, 5.9 5.3 

 Diameter between the internal orbitar angles, 3.1 2.4< 

 Frontal diameter, measured immediately beneath the internal orbitar angles, 2.4 1.6 

 Inter-parietal diameter, drawn from the most prominent points of the squa- 

 mous sutures, 2.7 2.5 

 Vertical diameter, drawn between the palate plate and most prominent part 



of the OS frontis, 2.7 2.2 



It will be observed that the absolute length of the cranium of the Lupus gigas is 

 nearly an inch greater than that of the common grey wolf But the most 

 remarkable disparity is seen in the frontal diameter, which is eight-tenths of an inch 

 greater in the giant wolf, and almost equal to that of the St. Bernard's dog ; and the 

 line between the internal orbitar angles is fractionally longer than in the latter 

 animal. The vertical diameter is fully half an inch more in the L. gigas than in the 

 common wolf, and only three-tenths of an inch less than in the St. Bernard breed, to 

 which the great wolf bears a striking analogy in most of its cranial proportions. The 

 posterior chamber of the skull, as measured by the inter-parietal diameter, is very 

 nearly the same in both, and only two-tenths of an inch greater than in the common 

 wolf. The elevated frontal region is proportionate to what we see in some of the 

 most cultivated races of domestic dogs. The petrous or tympanic bones are not 

 much more capacious than in the common wolf, but present a remarkable difference 

 in their flattened and more angular form : yet the distance between these organs is 

 nearly the same in both species." 



The skin and skull from which the preceding descriptions have been drawn, 

 belonged to an animal captured by me in the month of September, 1836, on the 

 plains of the Columbia river, one and a half or two miles west of Fort Vancouver, 

 and they now form part of the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 



The following extract of a letter addressed to Dr. S. G. Morton by Dr. J. K. 

 Barnes, of the United States Army, gives an excellent idea of the appearance and 

 habits of what I suppose to be a variety of this remarkable animal ; merely premising 

 that Dr. Barnes was stationed during many years in different parts of Texas, and 

 had ample opportunity for observation. 



" The Buffalo wolf of the Texas frontier is found remote from civilization, in the 

 usual ranges of the buffalo, and is distinguished from other wolves by peculiarities of 

 form, size, color and habits. Most commonly they are seen in pairs, or singly. The 

 greatest number I have seen together being two pairs, which had approached to 

 within two miles of the settlements during the extremely cold weather of December, 

 1848. Their color in Texas is a dusky or smoky white ; hair thick, long and coarse 



