218 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



the systematics of the group remains in a state of very considerable 

 confusion (cf. Miller, 1912, pp. 285, 296; Ognev, 1931, pp. 14-118; 

 Pocock, 1932). In the account that follows, only two of the forms 

 will call for separate treatment. Among those that have been de- 

 scribed, the following may be mentioned as being better known or 

 as having gained more or less recognition in the literature: 



Ursus arctos arctos Linnaeus, of northern Europe. 



U. a. pyrenaicus Fischer, of the Pyrenees and northern Spain. 



U. a. meridionalis Middendorff, of the Caucasus. 



U. a. syriacus Hemprich and Ehrenberg, of Asia Minor. 



U. a. collaris Cuvier, of Siberia. 



U. a. beringianus Middendorff, ranging from Manchuria to Kam- 

 chatka. 



U. a. lasiotus Gray, of Mongolia, Manchuria, Hokkaido, and the 

 Kuriles. 



U. a. isabellinus Horsfield, of the western Himalayas and the 

 Thian Shan. 



U. a. pruinosus Blyth, of Tibet (not generally regarded as con- 

 specific with U. arctos, but so treated by Pocock, 1932). 



The Brown Bear has become extinct over the greater part of its 

 former range in western Europe but survives in small numbers in 

 remote and chiefly mountainous areas in Norway, Sweden, Spain, 

 France, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Bul- 

 garia, Rumania, Poland, and Estonia. It has remained much com- 

 moner in parts of Russia and northern Asia. 



The general form of the species is short and heavy; fur long and 

 rather loose; head moderately pointed, broad posteriorly; ear short 

 and rounded; front claws strongly curved, blunt, at least twice as 

 long as hind claws ; tail very short, concealed in the fur. The general 

 color is usually a light brown or dull buff, the head not essentially 

 different, but feet and outer surface of legs darker. There are many 

 individual and racial variations in color. Measurements of an adult 

 male from Sweden: head and body, 1,900 mm.; tail, 80 mm.; hind 

 foot, 195 mm.; ear, 90 mm. (Miller, 1912, pp. 287-296.) 



The range of the species is the "entire continent of Europe wher- 

 ever sufficiently extensive forests remain; east into Asia" (Miller, 

 1912, p. 287). 



Great Britain. Numerous postglacial remains have been found 

 in various parts of England. These include bones from refuse heaps 

 that are probably of Roman origin. The remains found in Ireland 

 appear to belong to an older species than Ursiis arctos. In ancient 

 times in Britain the animal was trailed with boar-hounds and at- 

 tacked with arrows, pikes, clubs, javelins, and long knives. The 

 great Caledonian forest in Scotland seems to have been the chief 



