OCR Text |
Show MR. SCLATER ON THE BLACK WOLF OF THIBET. [Nov. 17, 6. O n the Black Wolf of Thibet. By P. L. S C L A T E R , M.A., Ph.D. F.R.S. Secretary to the Society. [Eeceived October 28, 1874.] (Plate LXXVIII.) On the 6th of August, 1867, as already recorded in the Society's 'Proceedings'* we received, as a present, from Lieut. A. A. Kinloch and Lieut. J. Biddulph a pair of Black Wolves which had been obtained by these gentlemen in the previous June from some wandering Tartars at the foot of the Lanak pass, between the Tsomoriri Lake and Hanle in Thibet. The facts concerning the capture of these animals are fully given in Mr. Kinloch's valuable work on the game-animals of Thibet f. These Wolves remained with us for several years in good condition, and bred every year from 1869 to 1873; but the young ones were in every case but one destroyed by their parents. The following table gives the date of birth and number of young ones produced:- Date. No. of young. 1869, April 23 2 1870, „ 14 3 1871, „ 18 4 1872, „ 8 3 1873, „ 8 2 The only young one reared (a male of the first litter) was sold in 1869 to J. E. B. Bouverie Pusey, Esq., F.Z.S., but died the following year in that gentleman's possession. The female died in July 1873 if; the male is still living in the the Society's Gardens. I have hitherto referred these animals to the Lupus (sive Canis) laniger of Hodgson, and have entered them in the 'Revised Catalogue of Vertebrates' (p. 47) as " Canis laniger, var. nigra." But I now exhibit the original drawing of Mr. Hodgson's Lupis laniger out of the series of drawings of Mammals which he has lately presented to the Society's Library; and it will be at once apparent that our animals (of which I likewise exhibit an excellent coloured figure by Mr. Keulemans, Plate LXXVIII.) cannot be referred to that species. Indeed Mr. Kinloch has already observed, in the work above alluded to :- " Wolves of at least two sorts are found all over Thibet; and I am not sure that there are not three varieties. I know of two, the common Grey Chanko and the Black Chanko, called by the Tartars Chanko nagpo (Black Wolf) I have heard of a so-called * See P. Z. S. 1867, p. 820. t Large-Game Shooting in Thibet and the North-west. By Alexander A. A. Kinloch. London: 1869. Harrison. % The specimen is now in the Gallery of the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. |