JUNE, 1903. NEW SPECIES OF MAMMALS ELLIOT. 235 



Mexico, the peculiarities mentioned in the description were more 

 conspicuous and distinctive, and separated this animal as worthy of 

 a different specific rank. While the skull is much shorter in total 

 length than those of the great cinnamon bears of New and Old 

 Mexico, it is nevertheless considerably broader across the postorbital 

 processes, and the forehead much higher and more prominent, and 

 differs from them also in other ways, while the superior outline 

 and general configuration of the skull is quite different from that of 

 any American black bear that I have seen. 



The only name heretofore given to the bears of the northwest 

 portion of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the islands 

 off British Columbia, is Ursus amblyceps, proposed by Kaird, U. 

 S. and Mex. Bound. Surv. , 1859, p. 20, Mamm., for a cinnamon 

 bear from Oregon. He had only a skin, and no skull, and was 

 unable to give any characters by which his supposed species could be 

 recognized. Whether the Oregon cinnamon bear is a distinct species 

 from other cinnamon bears, or is identical with the black bears of 

 that and neighboring states, I know not, but this name amblyceps, as 

 it describes nothing, and represents no tangible characters of any 

 kind, is a nomen nudum, and consequently without standing scientific 

 or otherwise, and until authenticated skulls of the cinnamon bears 

 of Oregon and Washington are obtained it will be impossible to give 

 any decision as to their specific standing, no matter how many robes 

 may be in evidence. The Ursus carlottce, Osgood, N. Am. Faun., No. 

 21, 1901, p. 30, from Queen Charlotte Islands, in having a slender 

 rostrum and cranium less arched than is exhibited in skulls of U. 

 americanus, is evidently distinct from the present species with its 

 exceedingly high forehead. 



Ursus machetes.* Sp. nov. 



Type locality. Casa Grande, Sierra Madre, State of Chihuahua, 

 Mexico. 



General character. Color, cinnamon; skull long, frontals broad, 

 raised above level of face; nasals very broad, posterior ends on a line 

 with ends of maxillae; superior outline convex, highest just behind 

 postorbital processes, and declining gradually anteriorly, sharply 

 posteriorly; occipital crest prominent, extending forward to coronal 

 suture; zygomatic arches very wide ; basioccipital and basisphenoid 

 wide; pterygoid fossa equal in width throughout its length, broad 

 and rounded anteriorly; mandible heavy, deep beneath last molar; 

 coronoid process very broad, and rounded on top without hook over 



fighter. 



