MAMMALS-CANJDAE-CANIS OCCIDENTALIS. 
105 
Canis variabilis, Maxim. Reise in das innere Nord-Amerika, II, 1841, 95. (White and gray.) 
? Lupus gigas, Townsend, Jour. Acad. N. Sc. Ph. (N. S.) II, Nov. 1850, 75. (Oregon.) 
Cn.—Color, pure white to grizzled gray. 
In the lack of perfect specimens of the North American wolf, I find it very difficult to throw 
any light upon the long vexed question of our species, all before me being mutilated in some 
way, and not allowing a satisfactory comparison with each other and with descriptions. Natu¬ 
ralists are divided in opinion as to the differences in American wolves, some insisting that the 
supposed peculiarities of American specimens disappear when those of corresponding localities 
in the two worlds are compared, and others suggesting that permanent differences are those of 
race merely. The theory of absolute differences in the species is supported by the smaller num¬ 
ber of writers. Richardson, whose opportunities for investigation have been very ample, and 
who is surpassed by no one in the accuracy and weight of his examination of questions in 
zoology gives the following general summary of the subject: 
“ The American wolf of the northern districts is covered with long and comparatively fine 
fur, mixed with a large quantity of shorter woolly hair, and it has a more robust form than 
the European wolf. Its muzzle is thicker and more obtuse, its head larger and rounder, and 
there is a sensible depression at the union of the nose and forehead. Its more arched forehead 
is comparatively broad, the space between the ears being greater than their height. The ears 
are shorter, wider at the base, and more acute, and have, consequently, a more conical form, 
whilst the greater length of the hair, on the side of the neck of this wolf, makes them appear 
even shorter than they are. Its neck, covered with a bushy fur, appears short and thick. Its 
legs are rather short, its feet broad, with thick toes, and its tail is bushy, like the brush of a 
fox. 
“The European wolf, on the contrary, has a coarser fur, with less of the soft wool intermixed 
with it. Its head is narrow, and tapers gradually to form the nose, which is produced on the 
same plane with the forehead. Its ears are higher, and somewhat nearer to each other ; their 
length exceeds the distance between the auditory opening and the eye. Its loins are more 
slender, its legs longer, feet narrower, and its tail is more thinly clothed with fur. 
“ The shorter ears, broader forehead, and thicker muzzle of the American wolf, with the bushi¬ 
ness of the hair behind the cheek, give it a physiognomy more like the social visage of an Es¬ 
quimaux dog, than the sneaking aspect of an European wolf. Buffon enumerates black, tawny 
gray, and white, as the colors exhibited by the fur of the European wolves. In the American 
northern wolves, the gray color predominates, and there is very little of the tawny hue. The 
general arrangement of the patch of color, is, however, nearly the same in both races.” 
At the same time, however, he does not wish to be understood as asserting more than a per¬ 
manent difference of race, leaving it to future comparison to determine whether the distinctions 
are specific are not. It must be remembered, however, that his experience of wolves was chiefly 
with the northern races, which, in the more severe climate, would naturally be more densely and 
finely furred than European animals of the more southern latitudes accessible to him. 
It is difficult to occupy a middle ground between considering all our wolves as one species 
with many varieties, or making all these varieties into as many distinct species. Thus we have 
the pure white wolf of the Upper Missouri; the dusky blackish plumbeous wolf of the Mis¬ 
souri ; the entirely black wolf of Florida and the southern States, and the entirely red or 
rufous wolf of Texas. These vary, too, in shape as well as color, the more southern ones 
appearing usually more slender, and standing higher on the legs, in consequence, perhaps, of 
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