AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
‘Vol. VII. —JULY, 1873.—No. 7. 
LOE ORDOOD I~ 
THE PRAIRIE WOLF, OR COYOTE: CANIS LATRANS. 
BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U.S.A. 
A large amount of fresh material, gathered on the Upper Mis- 
souri, may furnish some data bearing upon the question, now agi- 
tated, of the resemblance of the coyoté to the dog of the bronze 
period. The examination is made of about twenty skins with 
skulls, and several specimens in the flesh. I compare them with 
a dog very nearly of the same size; selecting for this purpose a 
` thorough-bred pointer—an animal which, in its enlarged brain-box, 
ned muzzle, pendulous lips, long, loose, silky, drooping ears, 
close, glossy coat and rat-like tail, departs as much, perhaps, as 
any breed, from an original stock, in all the fortuitous points en- 
-grafted through domestication. Even in this case the likeness in 
all essential respects is striking; and, as shown in the sequel, 
Specimens of Indian dogs of this region can be found not certainly 
distinguishable from a coyoté, for a reason that will be evident. 
differences between the coyoté and pointer become reduced to 
character of pelage and physiognomy; while the facial aspect 
tself, So strikingly diverse in its entirety, appears, when analyzed, 
- Much less substantially different. X 
To begin with size and proportions : it appears from the follow- 
ing z measurements that the pointer and coyoté differ less in these 
Tespects than the normal individual variation Lae eoyotts them- 
STRE gree ene 
at according to Act of of C in the year 1873, by the PEABODY ‘Acapewy OF 
on es of ine Binary dia Washi re Bi ng 
FORST, Se vu. 25 (885) 
