28 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



elongated ; tongue soft ; ears erect ; fore feet pentadactylous, 

 hind feet tetradactylous ; teats inguinal and ventral. 



1. Canis lupus. Lin. Desm. The Common Wolf. 



Canis Lupus, Harlan, Fauna, p. 79. Godman, Nat. Hist. i. p. 255. 

 Figure; Ibid., 255. 



Specific characters. Tail straight, pendant, bushy ; fur gray, 

 fawn-colored, with a black stripe on the fore legs ; eyes oblique. 



Description. Color varies somewhat with the season and with 

 age. In the summer the hair is short and yellowish-red ; in the 

 winter, blackish along the back, and obscurely striped, with black 

 along the sides ; large patch of white beneath the lower jaw, and 

 another between the fore legs ; head thick, but the snout long and 

 slender ; tail bushy, tufted with white and black, but never re- 

 curved like the dog's ; fore feet black in front ; voice a howl ; snaps 

 when it bites, without retaining its hold. 



Dimensions. 



ft. ft. in. 



Whole length, from . . . . 3 to 3 6 



Height, 2 5 



Tail, 12 



Head, 10 



Ears, 3or2£ 



Skull. 



in. t'ths. 



Whole length measured over the frontal bones, . 9£ 



From the incisors to the meatus externus, ... 80 



Breadth at the base of the zygomatic process, . . 3 5, 



Greatest breadth at the zygomatic arches, ... 50 



" " of the cerebral mass over the meatus, 2 3 



Height over the same line, 2 1 



Observations. The Wolf is capable of domestication and of 

 forming attachments. It acquires its full size in about three years. 

 It is savage and cruel in the wild state, and is compelled to wan- 

 der, like a fugitive from justice, from place to place. When it 

 has been taken young, and treated kindly, its nature is somewhat 

 changed, and it is probable it would become kind and improved, 

 like the dog. The Greyhound and the Wolf possess characters 



