148 Men* i am The Yellow Bear of Louisiana, 



a colored plate of it. His description is as follows : " Yellow 

 bear 1 . Ursus lutcolus. The American yellow bear has been spoken 

 of as a variety of the black bear of that continent. Independ- 

 ently of the individual mentioned in Shaw's Zoology, Major 

 Smith has a drawing of one. taken in Louisiana,* and there is a 

 fine specimen now in the Tower, which is aptly called, from its 

 color, the cinnamon bear. This last is smaller; the forehead 

 more convex ; the nose more conical than in the black species ; 

 the ears also stand farther back ; the physiognomy may be said 

 to be more fox-like, and the hair is not so long or thick. It is 

 gentle in disposition, which, indeed, is expressed in the counte- 

 nance of the animal very decidedly. We cannot, therefore, but 

 conclude that the hereditary distinctive differences of color, 

 organization, and moral character are quite sufficient to consti- 

 tute this a separate species. 



"The yellow bear was formerly common in Virginia, and is 

 still frequently met with in northwestern Louisiana, where it is 

 called the white bear, and seems generally, though without 

 doubt erroneously, to be considered an accidental variety, the 

 offspring of the black bear. It subsists on honey, acorns, &c., 

 as well as flesh." (Descriptions of Vertebrated Animals, Order 

 Carnivora, London, 1821, 236-237, and col. pi.) 



Six years later, in the mammal part of his well-known edition 

 of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, Griffith reluctantly treats the spe- 

 cies as a variety of the American black bear, saying : " The 

 Baron [Cuvier] also thinks that the yellow bear of Carolina is a 

 variety of the same species. This is scientifically termed the 

 Ursus luteolus. We shall not venture to assert, in contradiction 

 to the authority of the Baron, that this bear forms a distinct 

 species, but assuredly it is a very strongly marked variety. 

 # * * They were formerly common in Virginia, and they 

 are still abundant in northwestern Louisiana, where they are 

 called white bears, and are said to feed chiefly on honey, on 

 acorns of a large size, wild berries, &c." (Griffith's Cuvier, Mam- 

 malia, II, 1827, 228-229.) Whether or not two distinct bears 

 were confounded in the original description is of little conse- 



*Lest any one should suppose that the old Territory of Louisiana, 

 stretching westward to the Rocky mountains, was meant, it may be stated 

 that the present boundaries of Louisiana were fixed in 1812, nine years 

 before the publication of Griffith's original description and fifteen years 

 before his second. 



