VOL. VIII, PP. 147-152 DECEMBER 29, 1893 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



THE YELLOW BEAR OF LOUISIANA, URSUS 

 LUTEOLUS GRIFFITH. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM, M. D. 



Ursus luteolm Griffith, Order Carnivora, 1821, 236-237, with colored plate. 

 r<-x//x americanm Baird, Mammals of North America, 1857, 217 and 222 



(in part not of Pallas^. 

 Ur*m cinnamomeus Brown, Forest and Stream, December 16, 1893, 519 



(in part not cinnamomum of Audubon and Bachman). 



In the year 1800 Shaw mentioned and in part described a 

 yellow bear from the southern United States, but did not give it 

 a specific name, referring it to the black bear as a variety, with 

 a query. His account in full is as follows : " Yellow bear. 

 Among Mr. Catton's figures of quadrupeds a representation is 

 given of a yellow bear from the living animal then kept in the 

 Tower. The following is the description accompanying the plate 

 referred to: 'The yellow bear from Carolina (as the American 

 bears in general are) is rather smaller than the European bears ; it 

 has also a more pleasant and agreeable countenance, is perfectly 

 tame and sociable ; the color a lively, bright orange, of a red- 

 dish cast ; the hair thick, long, and silky. Its, other properties 

 are the same as of the species in general.' " (General Zoology, 

 vol. I, part II, Mammalia, 1800, p. 454.) 



In 1821 Edward Griffith, in his important and rather rare 

 work on the Carnivora, named this bear Ur&us luteohi*, and gave 



24 RIOT,. Soc. WASH., VOL. VIII, 1893. (147) 



