•23'^ . VEETEBEATA. 
The Wolf, Canis lujms, is always and eveiywhere an untaiiiod, ferocious animal, yet, stranger 
to say, in its structure and pliysiological cliaracteTistics, it is very siniilai' to the dog. On ac- 
count of its superior streng-th and energy, and its being supposed to be the progenitor of the 
dog, it is placed by some naturalists at the head of the Canidce. It consists of many 
varieties, differing somewhat in size and vigor, but all ravenous, daring, aud destructive. Being 
.spread over a considerable portion of the world, and coming frequently in collision with man, its. 
history mates a prominent figure in the annals of the brute creation. It is associated with the 
early settlements of most countries as a dangerous enemy of man, and is hence woven into the 
tales, ballads, legends, adventures, and fables which embellish the early literature of most nations. 
Adventures with wolves furnish some of the most exciting talcs of hunters in Europe as well as 
America. The frightful story of " Little Red Riding-Hood," which has peopled the imaginations 
of so many children with mischievous terrors, is a familiar example of the impressions which these 
creatures have made on the popular mind. 
The Common Wolf of Europe and America is of the size of a large dog ; its usual color is a 
yellowish gray : the hair is strong and harsh, and longest around the neck, shoulders, and 
haunches. The muzzle is black, the upper lip and chin white, the eyes oblique, tail bushy, but 
carried low : height of the shoulder twenty-seven to twenty-nine inches. This is the most com- 
mon aspect of the species, but it varies in different countries. In the high northern countries of 
Europe and America, owing to the effect of climate, it sometimes becomes white, or nearly so. 
One of the varieties is much darker, and is called the Black Wolf, as well in Europe as America. 
In different countries it varies not only in color, but in other characteristics. The French wolves 
are generally browner and smaller than those of Germany ; the Russian race is longer, and ap- 
pears more bulky and formidable from the great quantity of long coarse hair on the cheeks, 
