OCR Text |
Show 106 MAMMALIA. fir and seldom lives beyond twenty. His vigi-old at 1 teen years, . . . b k · 1 1 • mode of copulation, and suscept1b1hty of lance, ar , smgu a education are well known to every one. . C l L . B if VII i. (The Wolf.) A large spec1es1 . upus, . , u · ' . . · 1 · ht ta'11. legs fawn-coloured, w1th a black str1pe on wtt 1 a stra1g , . . f 1 l adult·(l) the most m1sch1evous of all the the ore- egs w len ' · f E e It 1' s found from Egypt to Lapland, and carnar1a o ' urop · . h assed into America. Towards the north, m appears to ave p . · · f becomes white It attacks all our ammals, yet wmter, ns ur · does not exhibit a courage proportioned to .its strength. It often feeds on carrion. Its habits and phystcal development are closely related to those of the dog. . C . l ycaon, L .,. Buff. IX, xli. (The Black Wolf.). Also mba· bits Europe, and is sometimes, though rar~ly, fo~nd m ~rance.(2) The fur is of a deep and uniform black, w1th a httle wh1te at the end of the muzzle, and a small spot of the same colour under the breast. It is said to be more ferocious than the common wolf. C. rnexicanus, L. (The Mexican 'Volf.) Reddish grey, mixed with black; circumference of the muzzle, under part of the body and the feet white; size that of the Common Wolf.(3) C.jubatus, Cuv.; .flgoura-Gouazou, Azzar. (The Red W~lf.) A fine cinnamon-red ; a short black mane along the spme. From the marshes of South America. C. aureus, L.; Schreb. XCIV. (The Chacal or Jackal.) Less than the preceding ; the muzzle more pointed ; of a grey· ish brown; thighs and legs of a light fawn colour; some red on the ear; the tail scarcely reachi:ng further than the heel. It is a voracious animal, which hunts like the Dog, and in its con· formation and the facility with which it is tamed, resembles the latter more closely than any other wild species. Jackals are found from the Indie3 a.ud the environs of the Caspian sea, as far as, and in Guinea ; it is not certain, however, that they are (1) This stripe is more or less strongly marked on the Jackal, Mexican Wolf, &c. (2) We have seen four individuals taken and killed in France. It must not ~e confounded with the Black Fox, among whose synonymes Gmelin has placed 11 ' [See .llppend. VI of .11m. Ed.] (3) This character is taken from a specimen brought from Mexico, and presented to the Cabinet du Roi by M. de Humboldt. Those which have been draw• by authors from the bad figure ofRecchi inserted in Hernandez, p. 479, mu~t be rejected. Messrs Say and Harlan, Faun. Amer., mention two other spectes Wolves, Can. latrans and Can. nubilus, which require to be ex;lminecl and pared. [See .llppend. ut sup. of .11m. Ed.] CARNARIA. 107 all of one species. Those of Senegal for instance, G. anthus, Fr. Cuv. Mammif., stand higher, appear to have a sharper muzzle and the tail a little longer. ' FoxEs may be distinguished from the Wolf and Dog by a longer and more tufted tail, by a more pointed muzzle, by pupils, which, during the day, form a vertical fissure, and by the upper incisors being less sloping. They diffuse a fetid odour, dig burrows, and attack none but the weaker animals. This subgenus is more numerous than the preceding one. C. vulpes, L.; Buff. VII, vi. (The Common Fox.) More or less red; tip of the tail white; found from Sweden to Egypt. Those of the north have merely a more brilliant fur. There is no constant difference to be observed between those of the Eastern continent and those of North America. The G. alopex, Schreb. XCI, or the Collier, which has the end of the tail black and is found in the same countries as the common one · th~ ~en~rd _croise, Id. XCI, A, or the Gross Fox, which is' only distmguished by a streak of black along the spine and across the shoulders; the Fox the French furriers call the Turk which is ofa yellowish grey, with the end of the tail white are' perhaps mere van.e tl.e s o f the common one. The followin' g sp'e cies how'- ever are very distinct. [See App. VII of Am. Ed.] C . .flz~?·re, Pr. Max.; .li.guarachai, Azz. (The Brazil Fox.) Grey; Sides of the neck reddish ; a black line commencing on the nape of the neck, and extendiilg along the middle of the tail. .!1 ~· cor sac, Gm.; Buff. Supp. III, xvi, under the name of dzve. (The Corsac.) A pale yellowish grey ; a few blackish waves at the base of the tail ; tip of the tail black; jaw white. Co~mon on the vast heaths of central Asia, from the Volga to India. It has the habits of the Fox, and never drinks. I suspect the .li.bo_uhossein of Nubia-Canis pallidus, Ruppel, pl. xi-is the same ammal. Tbere is also in the prairies of North America, a little Fox, C. velox, Har. and Say; F. Am., 91, which lives in bur-rows ' but wh1' c h appears to d1'Jure r f rom the C01·sac by the colours: a blackish tail, &c. F C. cinereo-argenteus, Schreb. XCII, A. (The Tri-coloured oxofAm er1· ca. ) Ash-coloured above; white beneath· a cinna-mon · red b an d a 1o ng the flanks. From al·l the warm 'a nd tem-perate parts of the two Americas. C. argentatus. (The Silver or Black Fox.)( I) Black; tips ly:. Gmel. has confounded it with the Black Wolf, under the name of Canis |