94 Cjame of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



This grey bear ot the higher regions of the Caucasus would appear 

 identical with the one from Transcaucasia described by Middendorft' as 

 Ursiis arctiis mer'idionalis. Bears of a light, or sometimes dark, yellowish 

 white colour, according to Dr. K. Satunin,^ are found in the 

 neighbourhood ot the Black Sea and Talysch, and seem to form a 

 connecting link between the typical brown bear and the Syrian brown 

 bear, to be next mentioned. Very probably this is the correct view ; but 

 it is still an open question whether the bear of Transcaucasia ought to 

 be regarded as representing a race by itself or classed with the Syrian form, 

 as is done by Dr. Satunin. 



THE SYRIAN BROWN BEAR 



(JJrsus arctiis syriacus) 



The Syrian race of the brown bear seems to be connected on the one 

 hand with the silvery grey bears from the Caucasus and neighbouring 

 districts referred to above, and on the other with the Kashmir brown bear, 

 of which mention is made in the Great and Small Game of Iiuiia, etc. The 

 skull is very like that of the Kashmir race, but in the single specimen that 

 has come under the writer's notice the profile lacks the deep concavity 

 characteristic of that of the latter ; and other differences between the 

 skulls of the two forms have been pointed out by Dr. Gray. The last 

 premolar tooth in the lower jaw of the aforesaid skull shows a slight trace 

 of the posterior inner tubercle. By Dr. Gray the colour of the fur is 

 described as dirty yellowish, but silvery grey is the prevalent tinge in a 

 specimen now living in the London Zoological Gardens. Doubtless, how- 

 ever, there are individual variations ; but it does not seem that the fur is 



' " Die Saugcthlcrt'aiina dcr Kaukasuslandcr," Zoologhclen 'Jahrbucherii, vol. ix. p. 292 (1896). 



