CANIS. 
In many parts of Sweden, the number of wolves lias 
been conliderably diminifhed by placing poifoned carcaf'es 
in their way : but in other places they are found in great 
multitudes. Hunger fometimes compels .them to eat li¬ 
chens : thefe vegetables were found in the body of one 
killed - by a foldicr ; but it was fo weak, that it could 
fcarcely. move. It probably had fed on the mol’s lichen 
vulpinus, which is a know n poilbn to thefe animals. Mad- 
nefs, in certain years, is apt to feize the' 1 wolf. The con- 
fequcnccs are often very melancholy. Mad wolves will 
bite hogs and dogs, and the lafi again the human fpecies. 
In a (ingle pari Hi fourteen perlons died of this dreadful 
malady. The fymptoms are the fame with thofe attend¬ 
ant cn the bite of a mad dog. Fury fparkles in their eyes ; 
a glutinous faliva diftils. from their mouths; they carry 
their tails low, and bite indifferently men and beads. It 
is remakable that this d-ifeafe happens in t he depth of win¬ 
ter, fo that it cannot be attributed‘to the rage of the dog- 
days. Often, towards fpring, wolves get upon the ice of 
the fca, to prey on the young heals, which they catch a- 
fleep : but this repaid frequently proves fatal to them ; for 
the ice, detached from the lhore, carries them to a great 
diftance from land, before they are fenfible of it. In fome 
years a i u ge dillritft is by this means delivered from thefe 
pernicious beads; which are heard howling in a mod 
dreadful manner, far in tlie fea. When wolves come to 
make their attack on cattle, they never fail attempting to 
frighten away the men by their cries; but the found of 
the horn makes them fly like lightning. 
The difpolitions of the dog and wolf, though of the 
fame genus, are repugnant by nature, and inimical by in- 
flin£t. A young dog trembles at the firft glance of a wolf.- 
The odour of the wolf, though new and unknown, excites 
fuch an averfion in the dog, that he flies, and comes qui¬ 
vering to the feet of his maker. A mallitT, who knows 
bis own drength, though terrified at the appearance of a 
wolf, attacks him with courage, endeavours to put him 
to flight, and exerts every effort to get rid of the objedf 
of his detedation. They never meet, but either flight or 
death is the confequence: when the wolf is ftrongeft, he 
mangles and devours his prey : the dog, with more gene- 
rofity, contents himfelr vvitli victory; lie finds no favoury 
meal in the body of, his dead enemy, but abandons him to 
be food for the ravens,, and even for other wolves ; for 
wolves eat the carcafes of each other,, and, when one is 
much founded, the others follow the blood, and alfem- 
ble in troops to devour him, 
. When a.; animal can deiend itfelf, the wolf is cautious 
and cireunifpett ; he never fights but from necefiity, ne¬ 
ver from motives of courage : the dog is gentle and cou¬ 
rageous ; the wolf, though ferocious, is timid: when he 
falls into a fnare, he is lo overcome with terror, that he 
may either be killed or taken alive without reltdance : he 
allows Jiimfelfto be chained, muzzled, and led where you 
pieafe, v. ithout exhibiting the lead fymptom of refentment 
or difeontent. In the immenfe forelfs of Germany, wliere 
thefe animals fo much abound, the following methods are 
taken to deftioy them : In lome very fequedered part of 
the foreft, tliey hang up a large' piece of carrion to the 
branch of a tree, having previoully made a trail of fome 
miles long, leaving final! pieces of putrid fiefl; here and 
there to allure the wolves to tiie fpot : they then wait till 
it is dark, and approach the place with great circumfpec- 
tion ; where they fometimes find two or three wolves af- 
fembled, leaping up, and (training-themfelves to catch the 
bait, which is placed juft within their teach; and, while 
the animals arc bufily employed in this way, the hunters, 
provided with fire-arms, leldom fail to difpatch them. In 
a convenient place, at the foot of a declivity, tliey make a 
fmall inclofureof Itrong pales, fo high, that the wolf, hav¬ 
ing once entered, cannot return again. An opening is left 
at tire top of the bank ; and a dieep that has been long 
dead is the bait ; to which the wolf is allured by long 
trails, made from different places- where lie is known to 
haunt. As foon as he arrives, at the fpot, hg.;examines 
every part of the inclofure ; and, finding no other way to 
come at the booty, he precipitates iiimfelf to the bottom ; 
and, having made a plentiful meal, endeavours in vain to 
re-alcend. His difappointnient at not being Sble to get 
back is productive of the mod dreadful bowlings, which 
alarm his enemies ; and they either take him alive, (hoot 
him, or difpatch him with bludgeons. 
Refines the common wolf above deferibed, which is at 
the head of this clafs, modern refearch lias difeovered the 
following varieties, viz. The Yellow Wolf; Cants 
lupus flaws . It is found in France and Germany, having 
a thicker fur, and of a more yellow colour, tinui the com¬ 
mon kind : it is more wild, though 1 eIs deftrudtive, and 
never troubles the flocks, or the habitations of man.—The 
White,Wolf; Cam's lu'ms a Urns. It is found near the 
Jenifea, in the eaftern parts of A-iiatic Ruffia, and is much 
valued on account of its fur.—The Black Wolf ; Cams 
lupus niger. It inhabits Canada, and is not fo large as the 
'common kind ; the ears are larger, more ere£f, and more 
difiant ; but in every other circumftance, and in difpofi- 
tions, it refembles the common European wolf. —The 
Mexican W oi.f ; Cauls lupus "Mexicanus■ It inhabits the 
warm parts of Mexico and New Spain. The boc^y is afh- 
coloured, with dark brown liripes, and having tawny-yel¬ 
low fpots on the fore-head, neck, bread, belly, and tail ; 
the head is very large, with great jaws, and Itrong teeth; 
above the mouth there are fome bridles, as large,-but not 
fo hard, as the fpines of a hedge-hog; the neck is veiv 
thick. This animal agrees the wolves of the Old World 
in its ravenous manners, and in its general form. 
CANIS 11YJEN A. 
There are three varieties of the hyaena ; the ftriped, the 
fpotted, and the Abyftinjan. T he ftriped hyaena is of the 
fize of a large dog', but very ftrongly made : it has long, 
lharp-pointed, naked, ears; an upright mane ; high fhoul- 
ders ; the fore longer than the hind legs ; the hair on the 
body coarfe, rough, and pretty long, of an afti-colour,, 
marked with long black (tripes from the back downwards, 
and with others acrofs the legs : its tail is very full of hair, 
fometimes plain, fometimes barred with black. It inhabits 
the mountains of Caucafus, and the Altaic Chain, Aliatic 
Turkey, Syria, Perlia, Barbary, and Senegal. Like the 
jackal, it violates the repofitories of the dead, and gree¬ 
dily devours the putrid contents of the grave : it preys by 
night on the herds and flocks; yet, for want of other food, 
it will eat the roots of plants, and the tender (hoots of the 
palms : it is a folitary, unfociable, animal, and inhabits 
the chalms of rocks; yet will venture into towns. When 
people lleep in the open air, it will fometimes (natch away 
cliildten from the fides of their parents. The fuperfiitious- 
Arabs, when they kill one, carefully bury its head, left it 
(liould be applied to magical purpofes. The ancients w ere 
wild in their opinions of the hyaena : tliey believed that its 
neck conlilied of one bone ; that it changed its fex ; that 
it imitated the human voice : that it had the power of' 
charming the (hepherds, and of rivetring them, as it were, 
to the place where they (food : no wonder then that an 
ignorant Arab (liould attribute to its remains preternatu¬ 
ral powers. 
They are cruel, fierce, and untanteable, animals, with 
a mo ft malevolent afpett : they havg a fort of obftinute 
courage, which will rpake them face quadrupeds (Longer 
than the.mfefves. TCsempfer relates that lie had feen one 
that had put to flight two lions. Their voice is a h.oarfe 
difagreeable. mixture of growling and roaring.. There 
have been' inftances of their being tamed. Mr. Pennant 
mentions his having feen one as tame as a dog; and M. 
Buffon mentions another. Mr. Bruce,"when he met them, 
aftefls to have confidered them only as fo many hogs grunt- 
inground about him, Linnaeus indeed fays, that it is of the 
lize of a (wine ; lias the appearance ot a wild boar ; the 
hairs of its back near a fpan long, and tipped with black; 
and, that it ought to be claHed with the bear perhaps, or 
with the badger, as, like him, it has, between the anus 
and 
