o rank as separate species. Most certainly there
are distinct species, for that known as the Prairie Wolf, and also the
Coyote of Mexico, are two kinds that more resemble jackals than real
wolves.

Besides, other wolves of the American continent, as the Brown Wolf of
Mexico, the great Dusky Wolf of the Upper Missouri, the Aguara Dog of
South America, the Wild Dog of the Falkland Islands, the Fox Wolves of
Patagonia and Terra del Fuego, the Guazu of Paraguay and Chili, and the
North American Common Wolf--are all animals of such different appearance
and habits, that it is absurd to term them varieties of the same
species. In Asia we have just the same series of varieties--that is, in
every part of the great continent is found some representative of the
tribe, which in reality is no variety, but an original and indigenous
animal of the wolf kind--such as the Sandgah, or Indian wolf of the
Himalayas; the Beriah, another Indian wolf; and the Derboom, a black
species that inhabits the mountains of Arabia and Syria.

In Africa the wolf is represented by the hyenas, of which there are at
least four species--one of them, the common hyena, belonging to the
northern half of the African continent, and extending its range into
several countries of Asia. At the Cape, and northward into Central
Africa, three large species of hyena, and one small one (the Aard wolf),
represent the lupine family. The Jackal, too--of which there are
several distinct kinds in Asia and Africa--is only a wolf of diminutive
size and gregarious habit.

This creature is fairly represented in America by the Coyote of Mexico,
and the Barking Wolf of the prairies; and in Asia, upon the steppes of
Tartary, by the Corsac.

Even in Australia, where new mammalia have turned up in such odd and
fantastic forms, the wolf has his congener in that curious creature
known as the Tasmanian wolf.

With regard to foxes, they, like the wolves, are distributed almost
universally over the globe; and exhibit a like variety of forms and
colours, according to the different localities which they inhabit.
Their name is legion.

As the smallest representatives of the wild dogs, we find in Africa the
curious little creatures known as the Fennecs. Of these there are also
varieties; for, although very much alike in habits, the Fennecs of
Abyssinia and those of the Cape are evidently distinct species.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

CATS.

The Lion is the _king of cats_; though there