430 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia Sc America 



iin earlier ininiiurant into America than the brown hear, which would 

 account tor its more extensive geographical range. 



The habitat of the typical race ot the black bear {i\ onhTicanus tvpiciis) 

 extends over the forest-covered districts ot North America to the north- 

 ward of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Normally the fur of this race 

 is uniformlv black throughout, except on the muzzle, where it is tawny 

 yellow. It is a comparatively small bear, with a short antl wide skull, 

 of wliich the frontal region is usually moderately elevated, and with rela- 

 tively small cheek-teeth. The cinnamon bear [Vrsi/s ciiniamomeus) of 

 Audubon and Bachman was based on an animal from the northern 

 Rocky Mountains which, according to Dr. Merriam,^ has small molars 

 like the common black bear of the United States, of which it would 

 accordingly seem to be merely a light-coloured " sport." 



THE LOUISIANA BLACK BEAR 



{IJrsi/s lUih'r/ciuiiis lutcohis) 



The yellow bear {V. hitcolus) of Louisiana, named by Griffith in 1821, 

 was based primarily upon a specimen trom that State figured by Major 

 Hamilton Smith, which was of a uniform cinnamon, or yellowish, colour. 

 Dr. Merriam - is, however, of opinion that this is not the normal color- 

 ation of the southern race of the black bear. " It I were to hazard a 

 conjecture," he writes, " in view of what little is known on the subject, 

 it would be to the effect that the normal colour is black." 



But there are other characters serving to differentiate this race, which 



' Procecdingi Biological &oi-i(t'i of Washington, vol. \ ill. p. lil (1^93)- 



- Ibid. p. 152. In this communication the author refers to a yellow bear then li\ing in the 

 Philadelphia Zoological Gardens as referable to the present form ; later on, however [pp. cit. vol. x. 

 p. 80, 1896), he came to the conclusion that the specimen in question was probably not of American 

 origin. It is, however, alluded to on p. 314 of Elliot's Synopsis of Mammals of N. America as referable 

 to the present form. 



