Vol. XIII, pp. 57-59 May 29, 1899 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW MOOSE FROM ALASKA/!^ 

 BY GERRIT S. MILLER. Jr. 



The Moose of Alaslva has long been known to be the largest of 

 American deer, Init hitherto it has not been directly comj)ared 

 Avith true Alces ameriavmis. During the snmmer of 1898 Mr. 

 Dall ])e Weese, of Canon City, C'olorado, sj)ent three months on 

 the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, in quest of large mammals for the 

 United States National Museum. Of the Moose, the special 

 object of his search, he secured four males and two females. 

 Tiiese specimens show that the Alaskan Moose differs consider- 

 ably from the animal inhabiting the eastern United States and 

 eastern and central Canada. To the latter the specific names 

 (iine.ricfuiHS,^ lobatus,X and iiMnva § have been applied. I can find 

 no name, however, based on the Alaskan animal, which may l)e 

 called : 



Alces gigas sp. nov. 



Ti/pi' adult cf (skin and skull), No. 861(3(), United States National Mu- 

 seum, collected on the north side of Tustuniena Lake, Kenai Peninsula, 

 Alaska, in September, 1898, by Dall De Weese. Original number Ki. 



(jtnirml cJiamders. — A larger, more richly colored animal than the 

 eastern moose. Skull with occipital portion narrower, palate broader, 

 and mandible much heavier tiian in Alces americanus. 



* Published by permission of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



f Alcea americanus .Tardine, Naturalists' Library, XXI (Mammalia — 

 Deer, Antelopes, Camels, &v..), p. 125, is;>5. Eastern North America. 



XCervuJ luhatus Agassiz, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., IT, ]). 188, 184(!. 

 Eastern North America. 



^, Aires nwsiaa Richardson, Zoiil. \'()yagi' of M. M. S. ' Herald,' V^erti!- 

 brals, !>. 102, 1852. Central Canada. 



l.-|-Hi(H,. Sue. Wash., Vui,. XIII, Isiili) (57) 



