MAMMALS-CANIDAE-CANIS LATRANS. 
115 
The specimen of this animal collected in the San Francisco mountains is about the bulk of 
the pointer dog. The muzzle is slender and pointed; the head narrow. The ears are very 
large, measuring four inches above the notch ; they are well covered with hairs, except around 
the meatus. The tail is unusually dense and bushy, much more so than in any coyote I have 
seen. 
The general color of this animal is a rusty grey, with shadings of black on the back and 
sides. The under parts are greyish white. 
A specimen collected by Dr. Woodhouse, on the Yampai river, has softer fur and less black 
on the back than some others. 
With Dr. Woodhouse’s original specimens before me, I cannot admit Canis frustror to the 
rank of a distinct species, whether it be distinct or not from the true Canis latrans. It is, 
indeed, of small size, not half that of the adult prairie wolf, but the skull is that of a very 
young animal. Not a single one of the permanent teeth has been cut, the dentition being 
entirely deciduous. (Incisors |^, canines molars = 28.) Compared with the skull of 
a young prairie wolf from the Upper Missouri, (No. 205,) there is no appreciable difference, 
except that the latter is a trifle smaller, and has rather a narrower muzzle. The animal itself 
is in rather better pelage, showing, in two mounted specimens, an abundance of long stiff hairs 
on the body, rather a large proportion of black tips to the hairs of the back, and a considerable 
amount of black on the tip and sides of the tail. The ears are larger than in Dr.'Suckley’s 
specimen. If the adult animal never exceeded Dr. Woodhouse’s specimens in size, occurring 
at the same time with other adults much larger, there would be good reason for considering it 
distinct. There is, however, absolutely no doubt, from comparison with the skin and skull of 
young prairie wolf No. tits > from the Upper Missouri, that when adult, the size of the specimens 
would not be appreciably less than that of the average of prairie wolves, (Canis latrans.) 
I regret that no mature specimens of the prairie wolf from the upper Missouri have come 
under my observation, as I have, in consequence, had no opportunity of comparing them with 
the coyotes of California and Mexico. No appreciable difference can be detected in the descrip¬ 
tions of Maximilian. The description in Audubon and Bachman was taken from a Texas speci¬ 
men. The animal described by Richardson, from the plains of the Saskatchawan, appears to 
be smaller, with shorter ears. The colors are more grey also. 
A very young prairie wolf, collected by Dr. Suckley, west of Fort Union, (205,) has very 
few long hairs, the body being covered entirely by a soft woolly fur, rather finer than the under 
fur of the adults. The general color is a pale yellowish grey, tinged with rufous on the top of 
the head and on the muzzle. There is a slight sooty shade over the body, caused by black tips 
to the hairs, grizzled with greyish. The ears are shorter than in specimens collected by Dr. 
Woodhouse. 
After a careful examination of over twenty skulls of the prairie wolf of the Platte, with nearly 
as many from California, New Mexico, and Texas, I must candidly confess my inability to detect 
any very striking distinctive characteristics among them. By selecting a single specimen from 
each series, it would be no difficult matter to establish specific differences between them, but in 
a large number from the same locality the distinctions disappear. In the Platte skulls some 
are much broader than others, with shorter muzzle; there is also a great variation in the 
diameter between the orbits. The sectorial teeth in skulls of the same length differ in length 
sometimes by an eighth of an inch. The shape of the coronoid process varies exceedingly, as 
does, to some extent, the width of muzzle. Perhaps in the skulls before me there is, in the 
