ZOOLOGY OF THE STEFANSSON-ANDERSON EXPEDITION — 

 A PRELIMINARY ESTIMATE 



By J. A. AUn, 



THE work of the Stefansson-Anderson expedition in Arctic America 

 is of great importance to zoology, much of the immense region 

 traversed having ne\'er pre\iously been visited l)y a collector and ob- 

 server trained for natural history exploration. Dr. R. M. Anderson has been 

 especially in charge of this work, and considering the difficulties of trans- 

 portation and travel encountered, has made collections of great value, which 

 with his field observations, covering a period of four and one-half years, 

 must add greatly to our knowledge of the bird and mammal life of this 

 hitherto ^•ery imperfectly known part of North America. The field covered 

 includes the coast region of Alaska east of Colville River, and the Barren 

 Grounds of the Yukon and Mackenzie districts east to Coronation Gulf. 

 The collections, now en route to the Museum, include good series of all the 

 Arctic breeding birds with their nests and eggs, and also of the mammals of 

 the region, both small and large. The former comprise shrews, field mice, 

 lemmings, spermophiles, porcupines and hares, while the fur-bearing and 

 game animals include the ermine, martin, wolverine, white, blue, red, cross 

 and silver foxes, wolves, seals, polar and barren ground bears, sheep and 

 caribou. The last-mentioned is represented by a very large series of speci- 

 mens from the Barren Grounds of Alaska and the Horton and Coppermine 

 River regions, and will supply an important link in the chain of evidence 

 bearing upon the morphology and geographical relations of the Arctic forms 

 of this exceedingly interesting and plastic group of the deer tribe. The 

 series of seventeen mountable skins of the barren ground bear, with their 

 skulls and leg bones and two additional skulls, representing both sexes and 

 all ages, is a most noteworthy acquisition. Although a bear allied to the 

 grizzly and supposed to be possibly referable to it, has been known from this 

 region for a century, and was formally named and introduced into science 

 more than fifty years ago as a distinct species, it is still represented in 

 museums by only a few skulls, its external characters having remained 

 practically unknown, and nothing has been recorded of its life history. 



While the collections of birds and mammals made by Dr. Anderson are 

 very comprehensive in respect to both species and specimens and include 

 much material of great scientific value, his field notes must prove an even 

 greater contribution to our knowledge of the fauna of Arctic America. 



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