PRAIRIE WOLF. 
151 
moustaches few, very rigid, extending to the eyes, four or five stiff 
hairs rising on the sides of the neck below the ears. Head rather broad ; 
Ears, erect, broad at base, running to an obtuse point, clothed with 
compact soft fur in which but few of the longer hairs exist ; body, toler- 
ably stout ; legs, of moderate length, shorter in proportion than those 
of the common Wolf; Tail, large and bushy, composed like the cover- 
ing of the body of two kinds of hair, the inner soft and woolly, the outer 
longer and coarser and from two to three and a half inches in length. 
Soles of the feet naked, nails rather stout, shaped like those of the 
dog. The whole structure of the animal is indicative of speed, but from 
its compact shape and rather short legs we would be led to suppose 
that it was rather intended for a short race than a long heat. 
COLOUR. 
Nostrils, around the edges of the mouth, and moustaches, black ; upper 
surface of nose, and around the eyes, reddish brown ; upper lip, around 
the edges of the mouth, and throat, white ; eye-lids, yellowish white ; 
hairs on the forehead, at the roots reddish brown, then a line ot 
yellowish white tipped with black, giving it a reddish grey appear- 
ance. Inner surface of the ears (which are thinly clothed Muth hair) 
white; outer surface, yellowish brown; the fore legs reddish brown, 
with a stripe of blackish extending from the fore shoulder in an irreg- 
ular black line over the knee to near the pans. Outer surface of the 
hind legs, reddish brown, inner surface a little lighter. 
On the back the soft under fur is dingy yellow ; the longer h.air 
from the roots to two-thirds of its length black, then a broad line 
of yellowish brown, broadly tipped with black. Neck, reddish blown , 
throat and all beneath, yellowish white, with bars under the throat 
and on the chest and belly of a reddish tinge. On the tail the softer 
hair is plumbeous, the longer hairs are like those on the back, except 
on the tip of the tail where they are black for nearly their whole 
length. The description here given is from a Very fine specimen obtained 
at San Antonio in Texas. There is not however a uniformity of colour 
in these animals, although they vary less than the large wolves. The 
specimen which Richardson described was obtained on the Saskatch- 
ewan. We examined it in the Zoological Museum of London : it differs 
in some shades of colours from ours — its ears are a little shorter, 
its nose less pointed, and the skull less in breadth but it was evi- 
dently the same species, and could not even be regarded as a distinct 
variety. The many specimens we examined and compared, in 
various tints of colour differed considerably, some wanting the brown 
