NATURAL HISTORY. 



COYOTE STUDIES. 



During the past 10 years, our professional 

 mammalogists have been giving the differ- 

 ent families and genera of American quad- 

 rupeds a complete overhauling. Through 

 the labors of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the 

 Biological Survey, Dr. J. A. Allen, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, Dr. 

 Edgar A. Mearns, of the Mexican Bound- 

 ary Survey, and a few others, huge collec- 

 tions of the dry skins and skulls of the 

 smaller quadrupeds have been gathered 

 by trained collectors. Often ioo skins of 

 the same species have been brought to- 

 gether, each one most carefully labelled as 

 to its locality, measurements, date, etc. 

 Dozens of trained and skilful collectors 

 have gone over nearly every portion of the 

 United States, gathering in everything that 

 was so unwary as to succumb to trap or 

 poison. It is absolutely certain that the 

 work of the Biological Survey of our Agri- 

 cultural Department is by far the most 

 thorough and systematic of any studies of 

 quadrupeds ever carried out in any country. 

 As yet the public generally has not the 

 faintest idea of its scope or its value, be- 

 cause thus far the results have not been 

 ready to correlate and lay en masse before 

 the public. When this is done, it is safe to 

 predict that such reports will be a revela- 

 tion to all people who are interested in 

 animal life. 



As an illustration of the startling results 

 often reached, we may mention the case of 

 our old friend, the coyote. And what 

 blessed memories of sage-brush " flats," 

 bare " divides," ragged " bad lands " and 

 good times galore rise before the hunter at 

 the mention of his name! We have all 

 known him — and love him for the fun he 

 has furnished us for lo! these many years. 

 We have clung to him as the one animal 

 who scientifically is the same to-day, yester- 

 day and forever. The varieties of gray 

 wolves and of bears may be ever so many, 

 but we never knew Canis latrans to be as- 

 sailed by the makers of new species until 

 now. 



At last, however, the coyote's hour has 

 come. At last Dr. Merriam has gotten hold 

 of him, to the extent of a large collection 

 of skins and skulls, from all parts of coyote 

 land, and the individuality of our old friend 

 and occasional camp-follower has been di- 

 vided by long division. Dr. Merriam rec- 

 ognizes as valid 3 old species, that for years 

 had been considered harmless, and at one 

 fell swoop he has also created and described 

 7 new species! 



The Doctor protests that the specimens 

 alone are to blame. He spread them all 

 out, according to their localities, sizes, 

 colors and teeth, and found 11 distinct 



forms. To make sure his eyes did not de- 

 ceive him, he called in several other mam- 

 malogists, and challenged their judgment. 

 It was agreed that the 11 species were all 

 there, and could not be reduced by any le- 

 gitimate process known to science; where- 

 upon, the whole 11 have been described by 

 Dr. Merriam in a Biological Society paper, 

 which was published on March 15. 



It is impossible for the casual student, 

 much less the average hunter, to acquire, 

 from even the best descriptions, the ability 

 to recognize each of the species described 

 without missing a shot. Only a trained nat- 

 uralist can do that. 



As if in anticipation of this very difficulty, 

 Dr. Merriam has arranged the 11 species in 

 3 groups, each of which is represented by 

 a species which may be considered the type 

 of its special group. 



The Latrans Group heads the list, and 

 is represented by our old friend Canis 

 latrans, who is accredited to " the humid 

 prairies and bordering woodlands of the 

 Northern Mississippi valley in Iowa and 

 Minnesota, and follows the Northern edge 

 of the plains Westward to the base of the 

 Rocky mountains, in the province of Al- 

 berta." Farther West, in Colorado and 

 Montana to Assiniboia, it is replaced by a 

 pale species called Canis pallidas (new) 

 which joins farms, still farther West, with 

 Canis lestes (new), who owns Southern 

 British Columbia, the Sierra Nevadas and 

 the Rocky mountains, to Northern Arizona. 



The Frustror Group contains 3 species 

 — C. cagottis of Central Mexico, frustror of 

 Southern Texas and Indian Territory, and 

 peninsulae (new) confined to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. These 3 species are of medium size, 

 and have smaller teeth than the members 

 of the lantrans group. 



The Microdon Group contains 5 species, 

 2 of which hail from Mexico, one from Ari- 

 zona, one from Utah, and one from the San 

 Joaquin valley, California. These are all 

 new save the one last named. These are 

 still smaller animals, and have much smaller 

 teeth than either of the other 2 groups. 



Just what method will be adopted to en- 

 able other persons than half a dozen pro- 

 fessional mammalogists to get a clear 

 understanding of the 11 coyote species now 

 laid before us, remains to be seen. One 

 very important step in that direction has 

 been omitted by the distinguished author 

 — inadvertently, let us hope. Not one of the 

 11 species has been christened with an Eng- 

 lish name! To most people, the Latin 

 names mean nothing, and it is therefore 

 probable that general interest in the new 

 forms will wait for names in the United 

 States language — names that mean some- 

 thing, and that can be remembered. 



W. T. H. 



476 



