74 VEKTEBRATES, 



Strong jr, he tears and devours his prey : the dog, on the contrary, 

 is more generous, and contents himself with his victory. 



The dog, even in his savage state, is not cruel ; he is easily 

 tamed, and continues firmly attached to his master. The Wolf, 

 when taken young, becomes tame, but rarely forms an attachment. 

 Nature is stronger in him than education; he resumes, with age, 

 his natural dispositions, and returns, as soon as he can, to the woods 

 whence he was taken. Dogs, even of the dullest kinds, seek the 

 company of other animals ; they are naturally disposed to follow 

 and accompany other creatures : the Wolf, on the contrary, is the 

 enemy of all society ; he does not even keep much company with 

 those of his kind. When they are seen in packs together, it is 

 not to be considered as a peaceful society, but a combination for 

 war : they testify their hostile intentions by their loud bowlings, 

 and by their fierceness discover a project for attacking some great 

 animal, such as a stag or a bull, or for destroying some formidable 

 dog. The instant their military expedition is completed, their 

 society is at an end; they then part, and each returns in silence to 

 his solitary retreat. There is not even any strong attachment be- 

 tween the male and female ; they seek each other only once a year, 

 and remain but a few days together. 



The difference in the duration of the pregnancy of the she 

 Wolf, which goes with young above a hundred days, and the bitch, 

 which does not go above sixty, proves that the Wolf and the dog, so 

 different in disposition, are still more so in one of the principal 

 functions of the animal economy. 



The Wolf generally brings forth five or six, and sometimes 

 even nine, at a litter. The cubs are brought forth, like those of 

 the bitch, with the eyes closed. The dam suckles them for some 

 weeks, and teaches them betimes to eat flesh, which she prepares 

 for them, by chewing it first herself. They do not leave the den 

 where they have been littered, till they are six weeks or two 

 months old. It is not, however, till they are about ten or twelve 

 months old, and till they have shed their first teeth and completed 

 the new, that the' dam thinks them in a capacity to shift for them- 

 selves. Then, when they have acquired arms from Nature, ar d 



