562 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Circle. They are divisible into a number of species, the ranges of 

 the different ones not being very well known. The species latrans 

 apparently occupies all of the country from Indiana west to the 

 Missouri River and perhaps to the Black Hills region, and north to 

 Athabasca. 



The history of its occurrence in Indiana is peculiar, and it 

 does not seem to have been recorded from the State in any publica- 

 tion likely to fall into the hands of a naturalist, except Butler's 

 notes on Indiana mammals, published in 1894, and the author's 

 List of the Mammals of the Kankakee Valley, published in 1907, 

 although the settlers in the northern part of the state recognized it 

 in the early days. 



As far as I can ascertain, it did not occur in the southeastern 

 part of the state ; it is an inhabitant of the prairie rather than of 

 the forest. Wied speaks of the abundance of timber wolves at New 

 Harmony and then says a different species occurs on the prairies to 

 the west. From this I infer that he did not see it in Indiana. 

 Neither Plummer nor Haymond mention it in their lists and Ever- 

 mann and Butler also omit it. Mr. Chansler mentions it as being 

 moderately common about the prairies near Vincennes in early 

 times. He says : ' ' one was observed following a man with some beef 

 just north of Vincennes in 1858. One was observed by Mr. M. S. 

 Kelshaw in 1870. " 



In the northern part of the State the coyotes were once numer- 

 ous, then became almost extinct, and in recent years have again in- 

 creased greatly in numbers. Edwin Dinwiddie, in Rev, Ball's his- 

 tory of Lake County in 1884, mentions them in the past tense. The 

 historian of Jasper County also mentions both timber wolves and 

 coyotes in the past tense in 1883, but gives no details of their oc- 

 currence except the mention of a "drive" in the early 40 's in which 

 six or eight wolves were killed. Prof. Van Gorder says they dis- 

 appeared from Noble County in the early 40 's. Hon. L. Darrow, 

 writing in 1904, said : ''They were unknown three or four years ago, 

 at least to the oldest inhabitants of this [Laportel County." Mr. 

 Upson sfiys they became extinct in Lagrange County about 1840. 



In recent years there have been many reports of wolves killed 

 at various places in noi'thwestern Indiana. As stated in the ac- 

 count of tlie timlx^r wolf, it is not possible to tell definitely in most 

 cases vvheth(;r coyotes or timber wolves were the ones killed, but 

 all reports that I have been able to trace up seem to refer to coyotes. 

 T\u) Follovvin^' records nre Ihose which T hav(* considc^red reliable, 

 soirie of them having been verified and a. few taken from news- 



