W O L 



W O L 



of Fouche, fo that early in life he became a great extempore 

 player on the organ. 



Of thefe two brothers we have never heard or feen the 

 produftions ; but of 



ErnJ} William Wolf, born at a village near Gotha, in 

 1735, chapel-mafter at Weimer, we have feen and admired 

 many of the works. 



Wolf, in AJlronomy. See Lupus. 



Wolf, Lupus, in Zoology, the cams lupus of Linnaeus, 

 a beaft of prey of the dog kind, with the tail bending in- 

 wards, rather long and bufliy, and the largeil and fierceft 

 of that race of animals. It is extremely hke the domeftic 

 dog in fliape, and if the head, which is long, with a pointed 

 no^, did not differ a little in figure, the upper part of the 

 face being broader, one would be apt to declare it the very 

 fame animal. It is diftinguifhed alfo by fuperior fize, 

 ftronger limbs, and more mufcular body. It has a very 

 fierce look about the face ; its eyes are more obliquely placed 

 than thofe of the dog, and are more glaring and favage ; its 

 jaws are much ftronger ; and its teeth, which are large and 

 fharp, and the opening of its mouth, which is fhorter in 

 proportion than that of the dog, fierce and frightful. The 

 ancients had an opinion, that the neck of the wolf was all 

 of one folid bone ; but, on the contrary, this creature is 

 able to turn and twiil it about better than the dog kind. 



The wolf, as well as all the other beafts of prey, can en- 

 dure hunger a long time, though very voracious when it 

 meets with food. The wolf differs from the dog in his note, 

 for inftead of the barking of the dog this creature only 

 howls ; his ears, which rtand ereiEt, and his tail, make him 

 alfo greatly refemble the fox. 



The hair of the wolf is long ; the legs are long ; the 

 head and neck cinereous : and the body generally pale grey, 

 tinged with yellow ; fometimes found white ; in Canada 

 fometimes black ; and taller than a large grey-hound. 



The wolf inhabits the continents of Europe, Afia, 

 Africa, and America. 



How numerous thefe animals were formerly in Britain we 

 may infer from the laws of king Edgar, who attempted to 

 extirpate them by commuting the punilhments for certain 

 crimes into the acceptance of a number of wolves' tongues' 

 from each criminal ; in Wales by converting the tax of gold 

 and filver into an annual tribute of three hundred wolves' 

 heads. In fucceeding times their deftruftion was promoted 

 by certain rewards ; and fome lands were held on condition 

 of deftroying the wolves which infefted thofe parts of the 

 kingdom. 



In 1 28 1, thefe animals infefted feveral of the Englifti 

 counties ; but after that period, our records make no men- 

 tion of them. The laft wolf known in Scotland was killed 

 in 1680, and in Ireland one was killed in 17 10. 



The wolves of North America are the fmalleft ; and it is 

 faid, that from thofe proceeded the dogs which were found 

 there by the Europeans on their firft arrival : when re- 

 claimed, they are the dogs of the natives. In the lefs in- 

 habited parts of the country, they gather in large droves, 

 and hunt the deer and other animals like hounds with hi- 

 deous howhngs, and it is afSrmed that they will attack even 

 the buffalo. In the inhabited parts, they are become rare. 

 In fome parts of Europe their number has fomewhat in- 

 creafed ; e. g. in Sweden they were rare till about the year 

 1720. The Swedes deftroy them by ftuffing the carcafe of 

 a fheep or other animal with a fpecies of lichen or tree-mofs, 

 (lichen vulpinus, ) which is confidered as a certain poifon to 

 the wolf, and alfo, as the name imports, to the fox. This 

 is faid to be mixed with pounded glafs, which is probably 

 more deftruftive than the lichen. The wolves of Senegal 



are the largeft and fierceft ; and they prey in company with 

 the lion. Thofe of the Cape are grey ftriped black ; others 

 are black. 



Wolves are cruel, but cowardly animals ; they fly from 

 man, except when impelled by hunger ; in which cafe, they 

 prowl by night in great droves through villages, and deftroy 

 any perfons they meet ; and having once got the tafte of 

 human blood, give it the preference. In hard weather 

 wolves affemble in large troops, and join in dreadful bowl- 

 ings. They have a fine fcent, and hunt by the nofe : be- 

 tween them and the dogs a mutual enmity fubfifts. This 

 animal has a very ftrong carnivorous appetite ; and yet 

 crafty, ftrong, and nimble as he is, and in every refpeft ca- 

 pable of fcizing his prey, he often dies of hunger. Being 

 driven into the foreft, he finds only a few fpecies of wild 

 animals, who fave themfelves by flight, fo that he perifhes 

 with want. Although he is naturally timid and daftardly, 

 he braves danger, when preffed with famine, and attacks 

 thofe animals that are under the proteftion of man, and 

 carries away lambs, fmall dogs, and kids, returning often to 

 the charge, until being wounded by his purfuers, he retires 

 to his den in the day, but iffues forth in the night to his 

 ferocious and deftruftive ravages. When his hunger is ex- 

 treme, he attacks women and children, and fometimes darts 

 with favage violence upon men, till at length he falls a facri- 

 fice to his own rage. We have occafional accounts of the 

 terror which this animal has excited, and of the deftruftion 

 which he has committed among women and children in 

 France. To fuch a degree did his ravages excite terror in 

 1764, that prayers are faid to have been offered for his de- 

 ftruftion. 



Wolves, in the northern parts of the world, fometimes 

 get on the ice of the fea, in order to prey on young feals, 

 which they feize when afleep ; but fometimes the ice de- 

 tached from the fhore carries them to a great diftance from 

 tlie land, and large diftrifts have thus been cleared of thefe 

 pernicious animals, which have been heard howhng in a 

 dreadful manner far in the fea. 



The wolf is fometimes affefted with madnefs, accom- 

 panied with fymptoms fimilar to that of dogs ; and this dif- 

 eafe happens to them in the depth of winter, and therefore, 

 as Mr. Pennant obferves, cannot be attrib\ited to the rage 

 of the dog-days. The time of geftation in the wolf is, ac- 

 cording to Buffon, about three months and a half; and the 

 young whelps are found from the end of April to the be- 

 ginning of July ; and this difference in the time of geftation, 

 being in the wolf about one hundred days, and in the dog 

 only fixty, he confiders as a proof of the real difference 

 between the two fpecies. 



Although the wolf feems to be naturally favage, he is 

 capable, when taken young, of being tamed, and of being 

 wholly diverted of the ferocious charafter of his fpecies. 

 Ray. Pennant. Shaw. 



Wolf, Golden. See Jackall and Aureus. 



WoLH?. Marine. See Hy«na. 



Wolf, Mexican, Canis Mcxicanus, with deflefted tail 

 and afh-colourcd body, variegated with dufl<y bands and 

 fulvous fpots, a fpecies that inhabits the hot parts of Mexi- 

 co, agreeing in its manners with the European wolf. Its 

 head, jaws, and teeth, are large; in the upper lips are ftrong 

 briftles bent backwards, of a grey and white colour ; the 

 ears are large, ereft, and cinereous, and the fpace between 

 them marked with broad tawny fpots ; the head afh- 

 coloured, croffed with duflcy ftripes ; the neck fat and 

 thick, and marked with a tawny ftroke ; on the breaft is 

 another of the fame kind ; the body is afh-coloured fpotted 

 with black, and the fides ftriped with the fame colour ; the 



belly 



