A PECULIAR BEAR FROM ALASKA. 



BY WILFRED H. OSGOOD. 



In view of the scanty knowledge of the small Alaska bear known 

 as the glacier bear, it seems important to publish a figure and a descrip- 

 tion of a peculiar specimen (No. 13768) now on exhibition in Field 

 Museum. This skin (there is no skull) was purchased from the fur 

 dealers C. F. Periolat and Son by Mr. V. Shaw Kennedy and by him 

 presented to the Museum. Later it was mounted by Julius Friesser, 

 one of the Museum's taxidermists, and placed on exhibition. The 

 skin is practically complete although some slight restoration of parts 

 was necessary about the nose and one of the feet. It was received 

 by the fur dealers with a consignment from Alaska, and according to 

 report was obtained in the region of Mount St. Elias. 



Its principal peculiarity is in the fact that it is very much darker 

 than the majority of specimens heretofore regarded as representing 

 typical Ursus emmonsi. Gray hairs are scattered throughout the 

 pelage of the entire animal, but the predominating effect is black. 

 The black is intense and nearly unmixed with gray on the lower cheeks 

 and throat and thence down the middle of the breast. The nape and 

 sides of the neck also are nearly pure glossy black. The outer sides 

 of the forelegs and the front of the hind legs and the feet are chiefly 

 black. On the feet, forelegs, and breast the hairs are mostly black 

 to the roots but elsewhere in the areas which appear black on the 

 surface, the hairs are grayish at the base. The parts of rather more 

 gray than black are the lower shoulders, the sides, and the hips, but 

 practically all the hairs are broadly tipped with black, the total 

 amount being much greater than in ordinary Ursus emmonsi. A 

 black line from the nape to the tail is fairly distinct and the tail itself 

 is mostly pure black. The top of the rostrum is rich ferruginous 

 slightly mixed with creamy, while sparsely scattered ferruginous or 

 creamy hairs extend backward to the occipital region and nearly 

 to the base of the ears, becoming fewer and largely replaced by white 

 hairs posteriorly. The extreme tip of the nose and parts of the lips 

 were missing when the skin was received and are shown restored in 

 the mounted specimen. 



