Preliminarij Sj/iiopsis of AniGricoM Bears. 81 



and its allies. The last upper premolar is exceedingly narrow 

 and the postero-internal cusp is greatly reduced, in which re- 

 spects it differs from all American bears except the Polar bear, 

 which belongs to another genus. 



The peculiar cranial characters of Mr. Brown's bear are very 

 well covered by Eversmann's original description. Eversmann 

 states that the skull is thickly built, comparatively short and 

 high, the frontal is arched above the orbits and then slopes 

 abruptly and forms a step with the nasals, which curve up to 

 meet it. The elliptical orbits stand more vertical than in the 

 other species. Eversmann states further that even in the living 

 animal the species can be distinguished. In the Carrion bear 

 the head is short and the prominent forehead does not slope 

 gradually down to the snout, but with an abrupt step. The 

 skin is generally brown, and is lighter on the neck and shoulders, 

 where it is soiled yellow or yellowish brown. 



In view of the facts that the early history of Mr. Brown's bear 

 is involved in hopeless obscurity ; that the animal differs radi- 

 cally and irreconcilably from all known American species and 

 seems to agree perfectly with the Carrion bear of western Rus- 

 sia, and that nund^ers of living bears are shipped from western 

 Russia to America for exhilution ^uirposes, it seems more reason-, 

 able to regard the sj)ecimen in question as an exotic rather than 

 as an American species, of which, up to the 3^ear 189r5, only a 

 single specimen has come to the notice of naturalists. 



Ursus floiidanus sp. nov. Everglade Bear. 



Tijpe from Key Biscayne, Florida. Skull No. 3484, r^ old, U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum. 



Geographic distrihat'ton. — The evergladew and proljaljly other jiarts of 

 peninsular Florida. 



Cluinicters. — (Type specimen.) Skull very lono^, high, and narrow ; 

 frontal region remarkably elevated, highest immediately behind post- 

 orbital processes (more than 100 mm. abovehinder part of palate) ; brain 

 case very long and narrow ; interpterygoid fossa very long (71 mm. in 

 type specimen) ; basisphenoid and palate deeply excavated, the latter 

 strongly arched both antero-posteriorly and transversely. 



Measurements of type skull {(^ old). — Basal length (basion to gnathion), 

 282; basilar length of Hensel (basion to middle incisor), 277; zygomatic 

 breadth, 190; occlpito-sphenoid length (basioccipital + basisphenoid), 

 91 ; basion to hinder edge of palate, 133 ; basion to plane of front of last 

 molar, 186; interorbital breadth, 68 ; distance across postorbital pro- 

 cesses, 109; occi pi to-nasal length, 290; greatest length of skull, 330; 

 ratio of zygomatic breadth to basilar length, 68.5. 



13— Biol. Sue. Wash., Vol. X, 1896 



