524 NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
are greyish rusty, or even of the whitish hue of the arctic wolves*/' 
The variation of colour of the wolf in the wild state is worthy of 
remark. The most frequent among the Pyrenees is entirely black. 
It is called lobo in Spain, anda is so like a huge ferocious dog, that 
many regard it as a hybrid or mixed breed. Lewis and Clark in- 
form us that the wolves of the Missouri are of every shade, from a 
grey or blackish brown to a cream-coloured white. In Canada, and 
further north, they are often seen entirely white. In the fur coun- 
tries they are sometimes noticed with black patches, that is, pied , 
but associated with those of the ordinary grey colour; and Sir 
John Richardson, on one occasion, observed five young wolves, 
apparently belonging to the same litter (they were leaping and 
tumbling over each other as if in play), of which one was pied, 
another entirely black, the rest grey. Now, this natural range of 
colour is a circumstance of considerable importance in respect to 
our present inquiry, in as far as the tendency to become white at 
one extremity of the series and black at the other, combined with 
the central or representative hue, which is brown, may be said to 
supply the three great elementary colours of all the races of domes- 
tic dogs. We have not the slightest doubt that the wolf is the 
progenitor of many of our northern kinds. 
But in regard to many of the southern sorts the case is different. 
We believe it to be the opinion of the best instructed naturalists, 
that the wolf ( Canis lupus ) does not occur at all to the south of 
the equator. There are wild dogs of a wolfish character in India, 
beyond the Crishna, and there are corresponding or representative 
kinds in SouthA merica, and even in New Hollar.d; but the wolf 
itself is wanting beyond the Line, and, in truth, is not required. 
It is well known that both wild and tame dogs are indigenous 
to South America, although wolves, properly so called, do not 
occur there. The native languages designate the former kinds by 
names which are not found in European tongues. To this day the 
word auri , mentioned by Herera more than 300 years ago, occurs 
in the Maypure language. 
The largest wild animal of the canine race in South America is 
the maned aguara — Canis jubatus. It is not found b the north of 
the equator, but occurs chiefly in the swampy and nore open re- 
gions of Paraguay., and the bushy plains of Campos Greraes. Its 
habits are' solitary. It swims with great facility aid hunts by 
scent; feeding on small game, aquatic animals, &c. 
“ The aguara guazu,” for such is its native name, 61 is not a dan- 
gerous animal, being much less daring than the wolves o' the north; 
it is harmless to cattle : and the opinion commonly hell in Para- 
* Letter to Pennant, in Arctic Zoology , vol. i, p. 42 
