Description and Distribution 193 



light at the base, and in others it is dark. In my opinion, 

 there is no way in which to explain the erratic color of the 

 grizzlies. 



"Unfortunately, there is no type specimen to which 

 naturalists can refer. The animal was described by Lewis 

 and Clark in varying terms, according to the different 

 colored specimens that they saw; but they brought back 

 no skins for permanent preservation, as representing the 

 species. Mr. Ord merely describes the animal on the 

 strength of the writing of others, and not according to what 

 he himself saw, and he had no type specimen. It is very 

 unfortunate that this important species should have been 

 described without a type specimen. Inasmuch, however, 

 as it was so described, it remains for you, or any other 

 author, to describe according to his own observations what 

 should be regarded as the standard and the most typical 

 color. For myself, were I to choose a skin to offer to the 

 world as a type, I would pick one which is dark colored, 

 but having the terminal third of its longest hairs colored 

 gray. In other words, the grizzly-gray wash on the coat 

 should not be ignored. The very light and the very dark 

 phases I should regard as extremes, and in no sense 

 typical." 



Such a skin as Dr. Hornaday describes does, un- 

 doubtedly, represent that non-existent thing, the " average 

 grizzly." That is to say, it is, more nearly than any other, 

 typical of the abstract idea of this bear entertained, not 

 only by the general public, but by those who have seen a 

 good many specimens. But as a matter of actual observa- 

 tion I myself would not select this kind of hide for a 

 typical one. My experience has shown me that there are, 



