Encyc. Brit. XV. 89 fol., under the heading Lycanthropy, states:—A belief firmly rooted among all savages is that men are in certain circumstances transformed temporarily or permanently into wolves and other inferior animals. In Europe the transformation into a wolf is by far more prominent and frequent (amongst Greeks, Russians, English, Germans, French, Scandinavians). Belief in metamorphosis into the animal most prominent in any locality itself acquires a special prominence. Thus the were-_wolf_ prevails in Europe, also in England, Wales, Ireland; and in S. France, the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Servia, Bohemia, Poland, Russia, he can hardly be pronounced extinct now (see note 12). In Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland the _bear_ competes with the wolf for pre-eminence. In Persia the _bear_ is supreme; in Japan the _fox_; in India the _serpent_ vies with the _tiger_ (contrary to Mogk in Paul’s Grd., III. 272, who says:—“Nur Griechen, Römer, Kelten, Germanen, Slaven unter den indogermanischen Völkern kennen den Werwolf, den Indern und Iraniern ist er unbekannt.” Compare notes 6 and 9, Hertz, p. 133); in Abyssinia and Borneo the _hyena_ with the _lion_; in E. Africa the _lion_ with the _alligator_; in W. Africa the _leopard_ is perhaps most frequently the form assumed by man; among the Abipones the _tiger_, among the Arawaks the _jaguar_, etc. In Brockhaus’ Konversations-Lexikon, for the Middle Ages the werewolf belief is ascribed to all Slavic, Keltic, Germanic and Romanic peoples; found to-day especially in Volhynia and White Russia. Paul, Grundriss, III. 272:—Bei den Angelsachsen lässt sich der Werwolf im 11. Jahrh. nachweisen: Knut befahl den Priestern, ihre Herden vor dem werewulf zu schirmen.... Das älteste Zeugnis auf deutschem Gebiete vom Werwolf ist vom Burchard v. Worms (11 century). [10] See note 9. [11] Encyc. Brit. XV. 89 fol.:—There can nowhere be a living belief in contemporary metamorphosis into any animal which has ceased to exist in the particular locality. Belief in metamorphosis into the animal most prominent in any locality itself acquires a special prominence. (See note 12.) In none of these cases however is the power of transformation limited exclusively to the prominent and dominant animal. [12] Encyc. Brit. XXIV. 628 fol. under _Wolf_:—The wolf is found in nearly the whole of Europe and Asia, North America from Greenland to Mexico, the Indian peninsula, but not in Ceylon, Burmah or Siam; and not in South America or Africa, in the two latter jackals instead.