16 



MAMMALOGY. 



cuous in this specimen, but its color seemed more brown than I re- 

 membered to have seen in skins at home, and more resembhng the 

 color of the Arctomys empetra. When the animal bristled up, the hair 

 on the shoulders and adjoining parts stood out laterally. Dr. Marsh 

 confirms Richardson's account of the difficulty of drawing this animal 

 out of its burrow, and states that unless quite dead it is almost impos- 

 sible." 



2. Family CANID^.— The Dogs.— The Wolves. 

 1. Genus LUPUS, Swainson, Cab. Cy. Quad. p. 360 (1850). 



1. Lupus gigas, Townsend. — The Buifalo Wolf 

 Lupus gigas, Townsend, Jour. Acad. Pbilad. Quarto, II, p. 75 (1835). 

 Atlas, Mammalogy, Plate III, Fig. 1. Adult. 



This wolf is described by Dr. Townsend, as a distinct species, as 

 above, and apparently with entire propriety. It is larger than the 

 common wolf of North America [L. occidenfalis) , and is, we believe, 

 the largest species of the genus Laims. 



This species is regarded by Mr. Peale as identical with L. occiden- 

 talism and also by Audubon and Bachman, in Quadrupeds of North 

 America, III, p. 281 (octavo edition III, p. 279) ; but its characters 

 are too constant and strongly marked to justify the supposition that 

 they are merely those of a variety, or derived from unusually large 

 specimens of that species. That it is a distinct and comparatively 

 well marked species, is the opinion of -nearly all American naturalists ; 

 amongst whom we have much satisfaction in designating Col. George 

 A. McCall, late Inspector-General in the United States Army, whose 

 ample opportunities for observing this wolf in its native wilds, and 

 whose accurate scientific knowledge, render his conclusion of especial 

 value. Col. McCall's observations on this species, are published in 

 both editions of Audubon and Bachman's Quadrupeds of North 

 America as above cited, and Avith Dr. Townsend's paper in the Jour- 

 nal of the Philadelphia Academy, and Mr. Peale's observations given 

 below, embrace the history of this species, so far as has yet been given 

 by naturalists. 



