74 Merriam — Preliminary Synopsis of American Bears. 



A skull purchased from an Indian at Sitka in 1889 by Mr. 

 Charles H. Townsend differs from the other Sitka skulls. It is 

 larger and longer and has decidedly smaller molar teeth. The 

 exact locality where this bear was killed is uncertain, but Mr. 

 Townsend was told that it came from the mainland a little north 

 of Sitka. I have examined 7 skulls of the Sitka bear. 



Ursus horribilis Ord. Grizzly Bear. 



PL IV, fig. 4; pi. V, fig. 4; pi. VI, fig. 1. 



Ursus hornbilis Ord, Guthrie's Geography, 2d Am. edition, vol. II, pp. 

 291, 299-300, 1815. [Rhoads' reprint, 1894.] Based on the Grizzly 

 bear of Lewis and Clarke. 



Tifpe locality. — Montana. 



Geogvaphlc distribution. — Northern Rocky IMountains from Wyoming 

 and northern Utah northward; also whole of interior British Columbia 

 and thence northwestward in the interior to Norton Sound, Alaska. 



Characters. — Size large (larger than Ursus richardsoni, but smaller than 

 any of the Alaska bears) ; fore claws nearly straight, larger than in any 



other species, and 

 whitish ; hairs elon- 

 gated over the shoul- 

 ders, giving almost the 

 eflfect of a ' hump ' ; 

 skull and teeth large 

 and massive; frontal 

 region elevated above 

 orbits and highest be- 

 hind postorbital pro- 

 cesses ; temporal im- 

 pressions strongly 

 curved, usually meet- 

 ing over hinder end 

 of frontals, and not elevated anteriorly to form ridges. Looked at from 

 in front the frontals are normally elevated and convex between the post- 

 orbital processes, hiding the sagittal crest (fig. 12), while in the California 

 and Sonora Grizzlies this part of the skull is flattened and depressed, and 

 the temporal ridges and beginning of the sagittal crest may be seen (figs. 

 11 and 15). 



Remarks. — The Norton Sound, Alaska, Grizzly, compared with 

 true Ursus horribilis from the Rocky Mountains, differs slightl}^ 

 in cranial and dental characters and will probably merit sub- 

 specific separation as Ursus horribilis alascensis. It is somewhat 

 larger, the frontal region is furrowed antero-posteriorly between 

 the orbits, the palate averages longer, and the blade of the coro- 

 noid process of the mandible is narrower; the first lower molar 

 is broader posteriori}- and is much more abruptly and deeply 



Fig. 10. — Grizzly Bear {{'rsi/s lion ihilis). 

 From Wj-oining. 



