654 



APPENDIX. 



[No. V. 



Gmelin with the North American Otter, probably correctly, though that animal has 

 usually been considered only an inhabitant of the warmer parts of the New Continent. 



Canis Lupus. Wolf. 

 There is so much diversity, both in the size and colour of the Wolves found in the 

 interior of North America, that it is but reasonable to doubt, whether some may not 

 belong to species distinct from that which is well known as the Common Wolf, Canis 

 Lupus, of the northern portion of the globe ; the usual colour of which is reddish 

 brown varying occasionally to black. Besides the two animals which fell into the hands 

 of the Expedition, and which will be successively particularly noticed, Dr. Richardson 

 mentions a Wolf smaller than the Fox, which was not uncommon in the plains in 

 the southern parts of the country visited by Captain Franklin ; and neither of these 

 accord with the Wolves seen at Melville Island, and which are much smaller than the 

 White Wolf taken by Captain Franklin's party at Fort Enterprise. Thus we appear 

 to have knowledge of four kinds, all to be met within the districts visited by the 

 Expedition. During the stay of the travellers at Cumberland-House in the first 

 winter of the journey, very satisfactory information was obtained, confirming the 

 Observations made during Captain Parry's residence on Melville Island, of the 

 readiness which Wolves shewed to have intercourse with domestic Dogs. This 

 circumstance was fully known to the settlers, as well as that the produce of such 

 intercourse possessed all the character of perfect animals, and was not considered as 

 the production of two species. If such confirmation of what was before known had 

 been required, the present information would fully establish the point of the specific 

 identity of the Wolf and Dog, and does away the possibility of specific differences 

 between the kind of Wolves, which thus are known to connect themselves with 

 the domestic Dogs. A few skins of Wolves are annually included in the importation 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company. 



Canis Lupus — Griseus. Grey Wolf. 



Grey Wolves are common in the neighbourhood of Cumberland-House, a magnificent 

 specimen of one was caught in a trap, during the residence of the Expedition at that 

 place in January 1820. The skin was preserved and reached England safe. It is 

 very dissimilar in colour to the usual state of the Wolf, and is of much greater size. 

 Its dimensions are as follows : length to the setting on of the tail, four feet ; tail 

 fourteen inches ; height to the top of the shoulders two feet. The teeth are remark- 

 ably strong and large ; the ears sharp and erect, thickly clothed with dark -brown 

 hair tipped with grey ; above and below on the neck, the hair is thick and bushy ; 

 the whole of the body is eovered with a mixture of long, grey, and thick hairs, having 

 some few white ones intermixed on the back ; the sides and belly are dark grey ; the 



