In describing _lycaon_ as basically a gray wolf, Goldman made no mention of the occurrence of black or white color phases in that subspecies. However, in discussing _nubilus_, Goldman (1944, p. 442) wrote the following: "Many color variations are presented. Individuals may be nearly white at any season, except for a sprinkling of black hairs over the back, a small, narrow, but conspicuous, black patch over the tail gland, and a more or less distinctly black tip. Black individuals may occur in the same litter with those normally colored." Goldman also referred to _nubilus_ as "now probably extinct." [Illustration: _Figure 1.--A few wolves observed in the study area were jet black. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)_] In the eastern part of the range of _lycaon_, color phases other than gray appear to be rare as Rutter and Pimlott (1969, p. 188) attest: "The uniformity of the color of timber wolves in many areas is evidenced by the work in Algonquin Park, in Ontario. There, over the past eight years, dozens of packs have been observed from the air. However, we have never been able to discriminate between any of them on the basis of the color variation of individual animals." Thus it seems significant to report on incidences of black and white color phases in wolves that we have observed in northeastern Minnesota during some 480 hours of flying associated with wolf research (Mech _et al._, p. 1). The observations took place in the Superior National Forest, in northern Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties during the winters of 1966-67, 1967-68, and 1968-69. A total of 309 sightings were made of wolves that could be classified by color; of these, 11 (3.6 percent) were jet black (fig. 1) and two (0.6 percent) were creamish white, with the cream color the most intense on the back. No doubt some of the grays, and perhaps the blacks and whites, were repeated observations, but the figures should provide a reasonable approximation of the incidence of these color phases in this area. All black or white animals except one were observed with gray wolves (table 1 and fig. 2). A number of black wolves, and a few white wolves, have been seen by other observers, all in the three counties listed earlier. To gain some idea of the past incidence of these color phases in the same general area, we asked Conservation Officers Robert Hodge, Robert Jacobsen, and Frank Baltich of the Ely, Minnesota, area about the numbers of each phase that they took before 1960. They reported killing an approximate total of 580 wolves, of which four were black and three were white or creamish white. _Table 1.--Observations of wolves of black and white color phases_