﻿CANIS. 5 



and Keller 1 (1903). A very brief summary of their several conclusions is given 

 subsequently when dealing with the mutual relationship of the Pleistocene and 

 Prehistoric Canidas. 



II. DISTRIBUTION IN BRITAIN. 



Although this memoir is, strictly speaking, only concerned with the Pleistocene 

 Canidse, when the range of a species extends into other strata, whether pre- or 

 post-Pleistocene, brief reference must be made to such remains as occur. 



The Wolf (Cants lupus"). 



The oldest British formation in which the remains of the wolf have been found 

 is the Red Crag. Owen, 3 in 1856, first noted their occurrence in British Pliocene 

 deposits, describing certain teeth from Woodbridge, which he attributed, with some 

 hesitation, to this species. Newton 4 (1891) described two canine teeth from the 

 Red Crag of Boyton, which he believed to be those of the wolf. Owen also identi- 

 fied a humerus from the Forest Bed, but Newton remarks that it is very doubtful 

 whether there is evidence of the wolf being represented at this horizon. The bone 

 in question is now preserved in the Museum of the Geological Survey at Jermyn 

 Street, London. These scanty records comprise the whole evidence for the 

 occurrence of the wolf in Britain in pre-glacial times. 



During Pleistocene times, however, wolves abounded throughout England, their 

 remains having been found in nearly every bone-cave of this period (see list, p. 10) 

 and in many river deposits, 5 etc. 



There have been comparatively few records of the wolf from Scotland, this 

 probably being largely due to the lack of caves and deposits suitable for the 

 preservation of the bones. This explanation will not, however, account for the 

 scarcity and generally fragmentary condition of the wolf -bones found in Ireland. 

 Fragmentary bones were recorded by Adams 6 from the Shandon Cave, where they 

 were associated with the Mammoth and were clearly of Pleistocene age, and in 



1 ' Vierteljahrschr. Gres. Zurich,' xlviii. 



2 It has been thought desirable, following Flower aud Lydekker (' An Introduction to the Study 

 of Mammals, Living and Extinct,' p. 546), to include wolves, jackals, dogs, and foxes in the old com- 

 prehensive genus Ganis. 



3 ' Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc.,' xii, 1856, p. 227. 



4 ' Vertebrata of the Pliocene Deposits of Britain,' p. 8. 



5 The lengthy account of the wolf in Harting's ' Extinct British Animals ' is mainly concerned 

 with its distribution in historic times. 



6 'Trans. Eoy. Irish Acad.,' xxvi (Sci.) (1879), p. 221. 



