MAMMALS-CAJViDAE-CANIS OCCIDENTALIS. 
109 
length to condyles. The one nearest to this is a large head, not very mature, from Hayes 
county, Texas, in which these proportions are 0.50 and 0.54. A small wolf from Saltillo, 
(1319,) of about the same age or younger, is a little broader, compared with the total length, 
and about the same compared with the distance to the posterior edge of the condyles. 
One of the most striking specimens before me is the one collected in Oregon by Mr. Peale, 
and described by him as Canis occidentalis . The skin has a good many characteristics of the 
Sonora “ Canis mexicanus the under jaw quite dusky, a decided collar of black tipped hairs 
in front of the shoulders, &c. The skull, too, is very similar, and of the same age, hut is a 
good deal larger ; both agree in standing higher, when laid flat on a table, than others, owing 
partly to a higher ramus of the lower jaw, partly to the greater'height of the cranium. The 
elevation and swelling of the head just behind the postorhital processes in both is unusually 
great. It is to this Oregon specimen that Townsend refers as being the same with his giant 
wolf —Lupus gigas. There are certainly some very remarkable proportions in the table of 
measurements given by Dr. Morton in Townsend’s article on the giant wolf, although they are 
not very different from those of the adult white wolves of the Upper Missouri. A skull of a 
Swedish wolf (1035) is absolutely longer than that of the giant wolf, hut rather narrower ; the 
breadth of forehead is ten inches. In another specimen (1037) the zygomatic diameter is 
greater than in the giant wolf, and the forehead measures 1.94. This would ho in the propor¬ 
tion of 2.15 inches to 2.40, if of the same length as that of the giant wolf. 
The Swedish and Russian wolves in the collection are every way as broad as those of the 
Upper Missouri, and in fact there is no appreciable difference between Ho. 1037 and the average 
of white wolf skulls in the Smithsonian collection. 
The skeletons of Missouri and Swedish wolves exhibit some interesting differences on com¬ 
parison, although I am unable to say whether these differences are constant and specific. Ho. 
1308 from the Platte is a little larger than 1036 from northern Sweden, both being males. 
Their skulls measure respectively 10 by 5.33 and 9.30 by 5.08, the proportions of transverse 
diameter to longitudinal being as 53 to 100 in one, and 54 to 100 in the other. The cervical 
vertebras are about the same length ; those of the trunk, however, are considerably longer in 
the American wolf. The scapula is considerably larger in the American wolf; the cervix and 
articular surfaces, on the contrary, are decidedly smaller and narrower. The humeri and bones 
of the fore arm are of nearly the same length in both ; those of the American specimen, however, 
appreciably more slender, particularly the ulna. The pelves of the two specimens are in about 
the same proportions as the scapulas ; the femora are the same length, that of the Swedish 
specimen the stoutest, especially at the lower extremity. The tibia of the Swedish wolf, however, 
is absolutely longer, and in every way larger than the other. 
It thus appears from the above comparison that the long hones of the Swedish specimen are 
stouter and longer in every way, particularly the tibia. The cervical vertebras appear to he 
larger and those of the trunk rather smaller. 
In conclusion, as already stated, I am not able to come to a decision as to the absolute num¬ 
ber of species of Horth American wolves. Of the existence of varieties of color, and perhaps 
of form and internal structure, there is no doubt. The comparison of a large number of speci¬ 
mens from many localities, however, will he required to settle permanently all the questions 
connected with this subject. For the present I prefer to consider all as one species, and to 
assume this with good reason as distinct from some at least of the European wolves, if that 
continent possesses more than one. 
