EXPEDITION OF 1898-1902 351 



dusky basally and broadly tipped with white, the dusky basal portion 

 showing through the white enough to give a general dingy effect. The 

 top of the nose and a narrow band bordering the nostrils are blackish, 

 passing posteriorly on the upper part of the rostrum into brownish dusky; 

 a broad central band from the nose nearly to the ears is darker or more 

 dingy than the sides of the face; a rusty brownish spot marks the point 

 where the antlers are to appear, and there is a faint rusty wash on the sides 

 of the face both before and behind the rusty antler spots. The back is 

 marked by a strongly defined, very narrow, ferrugineous line, running 

 from the nape to the base of the tail, which, over the middle of the back, 

 broadens a little and darkens to deep dusky ferruginous ; the whole dorsal 

 area, from a little behind the shoulders to the rump, is pale fawn colour, 

 darkest medially and fading out on the sides to pale buffy white. This 

 coloured area corresponds in position and outline with the dark dorsal 

 patch of the adults. A narrow, ill-defined, dusky chestnut -brown band 

 borders the hoofs of all the feet, but is rather broader and more distinct 

 on the hind feet than on the fore feet. The tail is wholly white to the base, 

 as in the adults. 



The adult specimens, though killed in June, are in 

 winter coat, the hair being long, thick, and very soft, 

 much softer and finer than in the Greenland Caribou, 

 and the skins are also much thinner and softer. The 

 skin of the fawn was preserved in brine, which may 

 have slightly intensified or darkened the buify shades 

 of the dorsal surface. 



Rangifer Pearyi is evidently a very distinct insular 

 form, very different from R. Grcenlandicus in coloura- 

 tion and doubtless in other features. Unfortunately 

 only flat skins are available for examination. Speci- 

 mens of R. Grcenlandicus in corresponding pelage are 

 dark slaty brown above, this colour fading gradually 

 on the sides to the white of the ventral surface, the 

 Greenland Caribou being very much darker in its win- 

 ter pelage than the Newfoundland Caribou, which 

 heretofore has been the whitest known form of the 

 group. 



