CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIYORA. 333 
JTEENCH WOLVES. 
f gullet, aijCi Beck ; tlieir eyes are very small, and their whole aspect peculiarly savage and sinister. 
The Swedish and JSTorwegiau wolves are similar to the Russian in form, but appear heavier and 
deeper in the shoulder, lighter in color, and in winter, totally white. The Alpine wolves are 
brownish gray, and smaller than the French ; those of Italy, and to the east^vard as far as 
Turkey, are fulvous. Toward the Arctic regions of our own continent, they are nearly white ; 
further south, some are brown and some black. In Great Britain, these fierce animals were once 
numerous and destructi^'e ; the power of several kings was exerted in vain to extirpate them. 
They are, however, now altogether extinct in the Three Kingdoms. In the mountainous parts 
of France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, they are still numerous, and in 
some districts they are often formidable to the inhabitants. 
In Asia there are several varieties, as the Landgah, of jSTepaul ; the Beriah, of India ; the C. 
hodojjhilaz, of Japan ; and the Black Derboitn, of the mountains of Arabia and Sj^ria. These 
present peculiarities which have led some naturalists to regard them as of distinct species. 
Sir John Richardson enumerates the following varieties among the ISTorth American wolves : 
the GoMMOsr Gray Wolf, Canis lupus griseus^ the Mahaygan of the Cree Indians, and the Ama- 
rok of the Esquimaux ; the White Wolf, C. I. albus ; the Pied Wolf, C. I. sticte ; the Dusky 
or Clouded Wolf, C. I. nubilus ; the Black American Wolf, C. I. ater ; and the Prairie 
Wolf, the Ltipus latrans of Say. To these we may add the Red Texan Wolf, C. I. rufus. 
As we regard the various kinds of dogs of one species, so we consider the wolves as of one 
species. They differ in size, form, and color, but, as we have said, all are savage, fierce, and pre- 
daceous. The first named, the Gray Wolf, identical with the common wolf of Europe, was spread 
over our country, in its early days, from Maine to Georgia. The first settlers of Boston Avere obliged 
to fence in their cattle at night to protect them from the wolves. An old author says : " The wolf 
of Carolina is the dog of the woods. It is neither so large nor so fierce as the European wolf. 
They go in great droves in the night to hunt deer, which they do as well as the best pack of 
hounds : nay, one of these will hunt down a deer. They are often so poor that they can hardly 
run. When they catch no prey, they go to a swamp and fill their belly full of mud ; if afterward 
they chance to get any thing of flesh, they Avill disgorge the mud and eat the other. When 
' they hunt in the night, and there are a great many together, they make the most hideous and 
frightful noise that ever was heard. The fur makes good muffs. The skin, dressed to a parch- 
ment, makes the best drum-heads, and if tanned, makes the best sort of shoes for the summer- 
countries." We hardly need say, that with much truth this account mingles some absurd fiction. 
Although this animal has disappeared from the settled parts of our continent, it is still common 
Vol. L— 30 
