72 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY.
difference between the Canis Lyceum of Europe, and the Cams Lupus ; though it
has happened that the peculiar characters of the American Wolves have sometimes
been ascribed to the Canis Lycaon, from the descriptions having been taken from
American specimens. One can easily understand how Black Wolves accidentally
congregating may produce an offspring of the same hue with themselves, until, by
a concurrence of circumstances, the black variety is the predominating one in a
particular district; but the breed must be frequently contaminated by wolves of
other colours. Pallas, in a letter to Pennant, says, “ I have seen at Moscow
about twenty spurious animals from dogs and Black Wolves. They are for the
most part like wolves, except that some carry their tails higher, and have a kind
of coarse barking. They multiply among themselves, and some of the whelps are
grayish, rusty, or even of the whitish hue of the Arctic wolves
Black Wolves are more frequent in the southern parts of Europe than in the
northern; and to the south of the Pyrenees they are said to be more common
than the ordinary species or variety!. I'1 like manner the American Wolf is more
common on the Missouri than farther north ; and it is reported to be plentiful in
Florida, where, according to Bartram, the females are distinguished by a white
spot on the breast J. *
* Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 42. Griffith, A n im . Kingd., vol. ii. p. 348.
$ Warden, United.Stales, vol. i. p. 207- Desmarest, Mammalogie, p. 198.