W O L 



belly cinereous, the tail long, of the fame colour, tinged 

 in the middle with tawny ; the legs and feet ftriped with 

 black and afh-colour. This wolf is fometimes found white. 

 Pennant. 



Wolf, Black, Canis Lycaon, with ftraight tail, is confi- 

 dered by Buffbn and other? as a variety of the common 

 wolf, and confounded by Schreber and Gmelin with the 

 black fox ; but regarded as a diftinft fpecies. It is 

 found both in Europe and America, and in fome parts of 

 Afia. In America it is chiefly found in Canada, and in Eu- 

 rope in the more northern regions. Shaw. 



Wolf, in the Hijlory nf Infeas, the name of a fmall 

 white worm or maggot, which infells granaries, and does 

 very great damage there. 



It is in this ftate of the worm that it does the mifchief ; 

 but this is not its perfeft form, for it is afterwards tranf- 

 formed into a fmall moth, with white wings fpotted with 

 black. 



This little maggot has fix legs, and as it creeps along, 

 there iflues from its mouth an extremely fine thread or web, 

 by which it fallens itfelf to every thing it touches, fo that 

 it cannot fall. Its mouth is furnifhed with a pair of reddilh 

 forceps, or biting inftruments, by means of which it gnaws 

 itt way not only into wheat and other grain, but perforates 

 even beams of wood, boxes, books, and every thing it 

 meets with. 



Towards the end of fummer thefe pernicious infefts may 

 be feen crawling up the walls of corn-chambers, infefted 

 with them in great numbers ; they are then fearching a 

 proper place where they may abide in fafety during their 

 aurelia ftate ; for when the time of their undergoing this 

 change approaches, they forfake their food, and the little 

 cells they had formed of hollowed grains of corn clotted 

 together, by means of the web coming from their mouths. 

 They now wander about till they find fome wood, or other 

 fubftance into which they gnaw holes with their fangs, ca- 

 pable of concealing them ; and there enveloping themfelves 

 in a covering of their own fpinning, they foon become a 

 dark-coloured fort of aurelia. They remain in this ftate all 

 the winter ; but in April or May they come forth in their 

 moth-ftiape, and are then feen in vaft numbers, taking Ihort 

 flights, and creeping up the walls. In this ftate they eat 

 nothing ; "but they foon copulate and lay eggs, which are in 

 the ftiape of a hen's egg, but no larger than a grain of fand. 

 Each female lays fixty or feventy eggs, which (he depofits 

 in the little wrinkles of the grains of corn, where in about 

 fixteen days they hatch, and the minute maggots immedi- 

 ately perforate the grain, and eat out all its fubftance, and 

 with the threads wliich come from their mouths cement other 

 grains to it, which they, in the fame manner, fcoop out 

 and deftroy. 



The watchful obferver has two opportunities of deftroy- 

 ing thefe devourers from among his corn. One is, when 

 they forfake their food, and afcend the walls, which they 

 ' will fometimes almoft cover. The other, when they appear 

 I in the moth-ftate. At both thefe times they may be cruftied 

 1 to death againft the walls in great numbers, by clapping 

 I facks upon them ; but they may be exterminated more ef- 

 i feftually by clofing up all the windows and doors, and 

 j burning brimftoiie on a pan of charcoal, letting the room 

 ; be full of the fumes of it for twenty-four hours. This cer- 

 I tainly deftroys the animals, and does no fort of injury to the 

 1 grain, not communicating the flighteft fcent to it. Baker's 

 I Microf. p. 2 22. 



Wolf'j Bane, in Botany. See AcoNITUM. 



Wolf'.; Bane, [Vinler'j, a fpecies of hellebore ; which 

 fee. 



W O L 



WoLV-Fi/h. See Lupus Martnus. 



Wolf'j Grapes. See Lycostaphvl^e. 



"WoLV-Net, a term ufed by the fportfmen for a kind of 

 net ufed in fifhing, which takes great numbers, and has its 

 name from the deftruAion it caufes. 



It is ufed both in rivers and ponds, and is of the 

 nature of the rattle, excepting only the wanting of the 

 four wings. The trunk or coffer confifts of feven feet, 

 befides the two gullets. It is fupported by hoops, and is to 

 be placed in fome part where there is an abundance of 

 fedges, rufties, and water-grafs. There is to be a place 

 made for the net here, by the ufe of a paring-knife, cutting 

 away all the weeds and other matter, for the fpace that will 

 contain it ; and when the net is placed, there are to be two 

 alleys cut or cleared in the fame manner, one on each fide of 

 the net, that the fi(h may be invited into them, and by them 

 into the net. There muft be fome ftones or leaden weights 

 ufed to fink the net, and a long pole faftened to the upper 

 part of the mouth of it, by means of which, when it is well 

 filled with fifh, it may be lifted up and taken to the 

 fliore. 



Wolf'j Peach. See Licofersicon. 



Wolf, War, an ancient military machine, differently de- 

 fcribed by diff'erent writers. Procopius makes it a kind of 

 portcullis, or rather a harrow for defending a gate. Mat- 

 thew of Weftminfter, and Camden, defcribe it as a machine 

 for throwing ftones. " At the gates," fays Procopius, ( Hift. 

 of the Gothic Wars, book i. ) " they fet up wolves in the fol- 

 lowing manner : — They ere£led two beams from the ground 

 reaching to the battlements, and laid chequerwife pieces of 

 wrought timber, fome upright and fome crofs ; they jointed 

 them fo that the mortifing holes met one another ; and 

 before each joint ftuck out a pointed piece of wood, like a 

 thick fpar, and faftening the crofs timbers to another beam, 

 which from the top reached half-way down : they laid the 

 beams flat along upon the gates, and when an enemy ap- 

 proached, men above laid hold of the higher ends of the 

 beams, and tliruft them down, which falling fuddenly 

 among the affailants, with the wooden points fticking out, 

 killed all upon whom they defcended." Probably there was 

 a chain or cord to draw back the machine after it had pro- 

 duced its effeft. 



The war-wolf, for throwing ftones, is defcribed by Mat- 

 thew of Weftminfter, ann. 1304; by Camden, in his Re- 

 mains, to which we refer ; and alfo to Grofe's Mil. Antiq. 

 vol. i. p. 383. 



Wolf IJland, in Geography, an ifland in the North At- 

 lantic ocean, near the eaft coaft of Labrador. N. lat. 53* 

 55'. W. long. 55° 40'. — Alfo, an ifland at the north-eaft 

 end of lake Ontario. N. lat. 44°. W. long. 76° 50'. — 

 Alfo, an ifland in the gulf of St. Lawrence, near the fouth 



coaft of Labr:idor. N. lat. 50° 2'. W. long. 60° 55' 



Alfo, a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, near the coaft of 

 Georgia. N. lat. 3 1° 19'. W. long. 81° 30'. 



Wolf River, or Chici/aiv Bluf", a river of Georgia, 

 which runs into the Miffiflippi, N. lat. 34° 45'. W. long. 

 90'' 42'. 



Wolf Rod, a very low, flat, rocky iflet, in the North 

 Pacific ocean, furrounded by rocks and breakers, which 

 extend fome diftance from it ; 10 miles from the fonthern 

 coaft of the Prince of Wales's Archipelago. N. lat. 55° l'. 



E. long. 226"^ 42' Alfo, a rock near the eaft coaft of 



Labrador, and not far from the ifland called Wolf ifland — 

 Alfo, a rock at the entrance of the Englifli channel ; lo 

 miles S. of Land's-End. N. lat. 49° 58'. W. long. 



5° 45'- 



WOLFBOROUGH, a townftiip of New Hamp- 



4 fliirc. 



