SHORTER ARTICLES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 481 



THE INLAND WHITE BEAR. 



A few weeks ago the writer had the 

 pleasure of welcoming at the Carnegie 

 Museum his honored friend, Mr. Win. 

 T. Hornaday, the Director of the 

 Zoological Gardens in Bronx Park, 

 New York. Conversation turned upon 

 the latest discoveries in the field of 

 zoological research, and Mr. Hornaday 

 announced that he had just described 

 a new species of bear, ' The Inland 

 White Bear,' to which he had applied 

 the name of Ursus kermodei. After 

 Mr. Hornaday had given the writer the 

 substance of his article, which, as he 

 said, would be read in New York on 

 the evening of the very day we were 

 chatting together, the w r riter asked him 

 whether he ' would like to see a 

 mounted specimen of the beast.' A 

 look of surprise passed over his fea- 

 tures, but in a moment he was piloted 

 to one of the exhibition halls of the 

 Carnegie Museum, and there he saw, 

 what he least expected to see, a beauti- 

 ful mounted specimen of the animal. 



This specimen was acquired by 

 purchase from Mr. Frederic S. Webster, 

 the veteran taxidermist, at the time 

 when his private collection was pur- 

 chased by the trustees of the Car- 

 negie Institute and he accepted the 

 position of chief preparator in the 

 Section of Zoology in the museum. 

 For many years it has stood in a case 

 and has been pointed out as an ' albino 

 black bear.' 



The story of its original acquisition 

 by Mr. Webster may best be told in 

 the words of Mr. Webster himself: 



I " A number of years ago the firm of 

 ; Arnold, Constable & Co., of New York, 

 purchased in the London market a lot 

 I of skins of the polar bear. I was at 

 ! that time in business in New York 

 j and these skins, a dozen or more of 

 them, were turned over to me to be 

 made up into rugs. In the bundle I 

 found the skin of this little bear, 

 which I at once recognized as not be- 

 ing a Polar bear. I had jiever seen 

 such a specimen before, but concluded 

 that it was the skin 01 an albino black 

 I bear. I purchased the skin and 

 ■ mounted it. The skull was with the 

 head. The specimen was in excellent 

 condition. The fact that the muzzle 

 was black, and not pale in color, as 

 would be likely to be the case in an 

 albino animal, puzzled me at the time. 

 The thickness of the woolly fur also 

 attracted my attention, but having 

 mounted the animal, I did not give the 

 matter much thought afterward." 



The specimen, of which a picture 

 from a photograph by Mr. A. S. 

 Coggeshall is herewith given, is thus 

 far the only mounted specimen known 

 to exist in any of the museums of the 

 world. The skin is no doubt that of 

 an individual taken in British Colum- 

 bia, the home of the animal, which 

 found its way into the London fur 

 market from Canada. It was mis- 

 taken for an immature Polar bear, and 

 was so classified by the dealer who sold 

 the bundle of skins to the agent of 

 Messrs. Arnold, Constable & Co. 



W. J. Holland. 

 Caenegie Museum, 



February 3, 1905. 



