88 CARNIVORA. 
The latest writer on the subject in America is Mr. J. A. Allen, who at one time 
went so faras to unite all the terrestrial Nearctic Bears with the Old-World Ursus arctos, 
Linn.* More recently, however, he has changed his views, and, while he still identifies 
the Barren-Ground Bear of Richardson with U. arctos, he regards the Black or 
Cinnamon Bear as unquestionably distinct, and accords ‘“ subspecific ” rank to the 
Grizzly +, the differences between the latter and U. arctos being considered to be 
appreciable, but to be neither constant nor important. Other authorities, on the 
other hand, regard the cranial and dental characters of the Grizzly Bear as full of 
specific value; and Professor Busk, who identifies it with the extinct U. fossilis, 
Goldfuss, has lately contrasted its dentition with that of U. arctos in great detail f. 
i Not having the materials on which to ground an independent personal opinion, I have 
| thought it best to retain the Grizzly Bear provisionally as a distinct species, although 
I do not think it unlikely that Mr. Allen’s view may be supported by further obser- 
vation, and that U. horribilis and U. arctos may prove to grade into one another. 
| Following this course, the North-Mexican Bears may be thus characterized :— 
Le Ne EC Ee RT eee 
| 1. U. horribilis. Fur of body with yellowish or hoary tips, and usually a dark 
dorsal band; fore claws double the length of those of the hind feet. Frontal 
region of skull flattened ; outer margin of last upper molar nearly straight. 
2. U. americanus. Fur uniform in colour, either black or reddish-brown ; fore 
claws moderate. Frontal region of skull convex; outer margin of last upper 
molar convex in the middle. 
Whether the genus Ursus does not reappear at the other extremity of the Central- 
American subregion is, perhaps, open to doubt; for Dr. v. Frantzius was assured by 
the Costa-Rican woodcutters and hunters that a large animal, which they termed Oso 
real, was sometimes, though very rarely, found in the higher-lying forests, and that it 
reared itself up when attacked. He observes that though the Great Anteater is known 
by the same name, it cannot be the animal meant, as it is well known, and, besides, 
does not inhabit the same regions; and he therefore believed that the range of the 
South-American Spectacled Bear (U. ornatus, F. Cuv.) might prove to extend to Costa 
Rica §. No further evidence, however, has been recorded in confirmation of this view. 
1. Ursus horribilis. 
Ursus horribilis, Ord, Guthrie’s Geogr. (2nd Amer. ed.) p. 291 (1815, deser. orig., fide Baird)’; 
Baird, Mamm. N. Am. p. 219°. 
Ursus horribilis, var. horriaeus, Baird, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. Surv. 11. Mamm. p. 24°. 
Ursus arctos, subsp. horribilis, Allen, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. ii. p. 336°. 
* Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. i. pp. 184-192. + Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. ii. pp. 334-342, 
t Trans. Z. 8. x. pp. 60-69. § Arch. f. Naturg. xxxyv. 1, p. 294. 
