Vol. XV, pp. 77-79 March 22, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



TWO NEW BEARS FROM THE ALASKA PENINSULA. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



In June, 1901 Mr. James H. Kidder of Boston, and his friend 

 Mr. Robert P. Blake, spent several weeks hunting bears at 

 Chinitna Bay, a little south of Mt. Iliamna, on the west shore 

 of Cook Inlet. Here they killed one black bear and ten 

 large brown bears, the skulls and skins of which they kindly 

 sent me for study. One of the brown bears was a cub of the 

 preceding year; the others were of various ages from two years 

 old to adult. Before receiving the data I examined the skulls 

 and arranged them in two series, according to the size of the 

 teeth, placing four which I took to be males in one series, and 

 five which I supposed to be females in the other. When the 

 data came I was surprised to learn that there was only one fe- 

 male (besides the cub) in the lot, and that of the eight males, 

 four had large teeth and four small teeth. The skins did not 

 show any marked differences. After studying the skulls and 

 teeth at repeated intervals for two months, and going over the 

 specimens carefully with Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. , Mr. F. A. 

 Lucas, and Mr. Wilfred H. Osgood, I am unable to account for 

 the differences on any theory other than that two distinct 

 species of large brown bears inhabit the same area on the Alaska 

 Peninsula. In view of the facts I am reluctantly forced to de- 

 scribe the smaller of the two as a distinct species. In doing 

 17— BIOL. Soc. Wash. Vol. XV, 1902. (77) 



