80 Merriam Preliminary Synopsis of American Bears. 



The molars are very large, much larger than in any known species of 

 the Black bear group. The last upper molar in particular is notable for 

 its great breadth as well as length, averaging 29 to 30 mm. in length and 

 17 mm. in breadth in three old males from Prairie Mer Rouge. 



Measurements of skulls. Skull of type specimen (No. 1155, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., from Mer Rouge, La.) : Greatest length (gnathion to end of occipital 

 crest), 326; basal length (gnathion to basion), 292; basilar length of 

 Hensel, 288 ; zygomatie breadth, 187 ; occipito-sphenoid length, 89 ; post- 

 palatal length, 134 ; basion to plane of front of last upper molar, 193 ; 

 interorbital breadth, 68; distance between postorbital processes, 97; oc- 

 cipito-nasal length, 276. Average of three adult males from type locality : 

 Basilar length of Hensel, 280 ; postpalatal length, 131 ; basion to plane of 

 front of m 2 , 185 ; zygomatic breadth, 188. Ratio of zygomatic breadth to 

 basilar length, 64.6. 



Remarks. The Louisiana bear resembles the Florida bear in 

 the elongation and narrowness of the skull, but differs in having 

 the frontal region remarkably flattened instead of highly arched, 

 arrd in having the upper molars much larger. 



In my original article on ' The Yellow Bear of Louisiana ' * I 

 made the mistake of referring to this species a bear described 

 by Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown and considered by him to be the 

 Ursus cinnamomeus of Audubon and Bachman,t which latter 

 animal is commonly regarded as a color phase of the Black bear. 

 Mr. Brown's bear died in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. 

 It was procured in November, 1891, " at some point on the Union 

 Pacific railway, in Wyoming," " by the late James E. Cooper, a 

 well-known showman of Philadelphia." Mr. Brown afterward 

 kindly sent me the skull for examination (No. 3380 $ old, Mus. 

 Phila. Acad. Sci.). To my surprise, it does not belong to either 

 of the two groups of bears inhabiting the United States the 

 Blacks and Grizzlies but, in my judgment, is the Carrion bear 

 of the Ural Mountains of Russia, described by Eversmann in 

 1840 under the name Ursus cadaverinus. I Although it has short 

 fore claws like the Black bears, as pointed out by Mr. Brown, it 

 does not belong to the subgenus Eaarctos. The first lower molar 

 is much worn, but instead of the open space or * step ' of the 

 Black bears it shows on both sides the worn-down base of the 

 connecting cusp or tubercle of the large bears, and the last upper 

 molar has the enormous, broadly rounded heel of Ursus arctos 



*Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, VIII, 147-152, Dec., 1893. 

 f Forest and Stream, Dec. 16, 1893, 518-519. Also a subsequent paper 

 in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., June, 1894, 119-129. 

 {Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscow, 1840, 11-13. 



