26 Zoology of Colorado 



Although the coyote is a common animal, it has been difficult to 

 secure and perhaps still more to take care of sufficient specimens, 

 representing various localities and the pelage of different seasons. 

 Dr. D. G. Elliot said in 1901, "it is difficult to distinguish these 

 varieties of the coyote by any description, and still more so by 

 skins and skulls." Mr. Warren writes that he fully agrees with 

 Elliot. 



Many fossil Canidae have been found in Colorado, belonging 

 to several genera. Several are discussed by Thorpe in American 

 Journal of Science, 1922, pp. 426-430. In the same year Harold 

 Cook described a new form (Porthocyon pugnator) from the 

 Pliocene of Yuma County. This was a dog-like animal, with a 

 relatively high forehead and short muzzle, suggestive of the 

 profile of some of the domesticated dogs. 



The bears (Ursidae) have given rise to even more difference 

 of opinion than the coyotes. The common bear of Colorado is 

 Euardos americanus of Pallas, generally known as the black bear, 

 though it may be either black or brown. This is a smaller and 

 much less formidable animal than the grizzly. The latter was 

 called (Jrsus horribilis in 1815, the name based on the description 

 by Lewis and Clark, of the bears they observed in Montana in 

 1805. Dr. C. H. Merriam, making a careful study of the skulls 

 of bears, came to the astonishing conclusion that there are, or 

 were very recently, over eighty kinds of grizzly and big brown 

 bears in North America. The question then arose, what was 

 true Ursus horribilis, the original grizzly bear? The animal had 

 apparently been exterminated, but by great good fortune, Mr. 

 E. S. Cameron of Marsh, Montana, had preserved a skull, practi- 

 cally from the original locality. From this Dr. Merriam was 

 able to definitely identify Ursus horribilis, which was an animal 

 of the plains of eastern Montana and the Dakotas, probably not 

 entering Colorado. This species is however represented in the 

 mountainous districts of Colorado by a subspecies which Merriam 

 has called Ursus horribilis bairdi, dedicating it to the memory 

 of S. F. Baird, who was one of the pioneers in the study of Amer- 

 ican mammals. The type locality is Blue River in Summit 

 County, and the type skull is the one figured in Warren's "Mam- 

 mals of Colorado." Still other Colorado bears have been named 

 by Dr. Merriam Ursus planiceps (exact locality uncertain), U. 



