MAMMALS URSIDAE URSUS HORRIBILIS. 221 



No. 1867, from the Upper Platte region, is somewhat like 2039, with rather more yellowish 

 on the neck ahove ; 1865 has a greater mixture of yellowish white anteriorly ; while 1866, a 

 large specimen, is as white as 1826. The legs of all, however, are uniform dark brown. 



I have received from Dr. Hayden the dimensions of the claw of a grizzly killed at Fort 

 Benton by Col. Alfred Vaughan, Indian agent. This measures 6|- inches along its convexity, 

 and is the largest that has come to my knowledge, though Townsend refers to one of seven 

 inches, taken from an animal killed in the Rocky Mountains by the party to which he was 

 attached. 



There is little difficulty in distinguishing the grizzly bear in all phases of condition from the 

 common American black bear. The size of the feet and the length of fore claws, together with 

 the varied color of the hairs in different portions of their length, as well as in different regions, 

 with many other features, will always answer for this purpose. Lewis and Clark, in referring 

 to the differences 01 the grizzly and black bears, say that in the former the testicles are each 

 contained in separate pouches, two to four inches apart, and placed further forward than in the 

 black bear, in which they are contained in a single pouch, like that of a dog, and placed back 

 between the thighs. 



The definition is more difficult in regard to the U. arctos, or European brown bear, and 

 some authors, as De Blainville, are quite positive as to their being identical. I have satisfied 

 myself of a difference, from comparison of the skulls, but have never had an opportunity of 

 examining skins of the European animal. This in size is sometimes but little inferior to the 

 average of grizzlies, although never reaching the maximum of the latter. The fore claws and 

 the feet are proportionally less than in the grizzly ; the ears are longer. There is usually no 

 trace in the young grizzly of the whitish collar or transverse band on the sides of the neck, nor 

 has the distinct arrangement of color in stripes, as described in the grizzly, been observed in 

 its European congener. 



The existence of a brown bear in North America, less in size and specifically different from 

 the grizzly, is authenticated by Richardson, who found it on several occasions in the Barren 

 Grounds of the Arctic zone. Without being positive on the subject, he inclines to the opinion 

 that it is the Ursus arctos of Europe. The naturalists of the Venus obtained a brown bear on 

 the coasts of Kamtschatka, and carried it alive to Paris, where it was considered to be the true 

 Ursus arctos. If this be so, then the American Barren Ground brown bear is probably the 

 same species. 



Middendorff, 1 in an exceedingly elaborate article on the Ursus arctos, in the course of which 

 he discusses the characteristics of over fifty skulls, decides that all the European bears belong 

 to one species, of many varieties. In comparing the grizzly bear with the U. arctos, he finds 

 so few differences as to be almost inclined to consider both as the same ; the size of the grizzly, 

 as well as its weight, he thinks over estimated ; and even admitting a weight of 800 pounds, 

 mentions a bear of the Ural of this magnitude, according to Eversmann. 



The long claws of the grizzly he admits to exceed those of the Old World bear, but is not 

 certain that all of the former species have an equal development in this respect. He calls to 

 mind the peculiar variety of the Ursus arctos, called falciger by Reichenbach on this account. 

 He suggests that the bears of mountainous and rocky countries have longer claws than those 

 of the plains. 



The author comes finally to the conclusion that in the great length of the claws, the great 



1 Sibirische Reise, II, 11, 1853,4 ahd 54. 



