ORDER CARNIVORA: CARNIVORES 227 



tribution. Very detailed information on this point is supplied by 

 Ognev (1931, pp. 34-108). Various forms have been described from 

 this vast region; all that are considered valid at all are rated as 

 subspecies of Ursus arctos by Pocock (1932). 



W. G. Heptner writes (in litt., December, 1936) that the species 

 is found in all forested regions of the U. S. S. R., including Caucasia 

 and the mountains of Turkestan. In certain regions there are great 

 numbers. Hunting is allowed in most regions during the whole year, 

 but in White Russia only on special permit. In one part of Caucasia 

 and in the mountains of Turkestan hunting is limited to certain 

 open seasons. 



In European Russia, at the present time, the species seems to be 

 found chiefly in the northern parts, in the Ural region, and in 

 Caucasia. Many of the records from central Russia seem to date 

 from the last century, and yet the species still survives near Lenin- 

 grad and Moscow. In the Caucasus region generally it is quite 

 common, though rare in Daghestan. (Ognev, 1931, pp. 34-38.) As 

 many as half a dozen different races have been recognized in Cau- 

 casia by various authors (Satunin, Smirnov, Lonnberg, Ognev) . 



"In the Caucasus, according to Prince Demidoff, it is so common 

 that the keepers of the Grand Ducal territories have instructions 

 to treat these animals as vermin, and to kill them whenever occasion 

 occurs" (Lydekker, 1901, pp. 92-93). 



Asia. The Brown Bear is still numerous in many of the thickly 

 forested areas of Siberia, where the people do not hunt so much now 

 as formerly. It is distributed from the Urals east through the basins 

 of the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Kolyma to the Anadyr region and 

 Kamchatka (where it is very common). It ascends to 11,400 feet 

 in the Sayan Mountains, and to 8,259 feet in the Yablonoi Moun- 

 tains. (Ognev, 1931, pp. 38-40.) Southward its range extends to 

 Turkey, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, the Pamirs, Tian Shan, Hima- 

 layas, western China, Manchuria, Hokkaido, and the Kuriles. There 

 is almost a plague of bears in Hokkaido (Inukai, 19326, p. 526). 

 Many different names (generic, specific, and subspecific) have been 

 applied to the Brown Bears of various parts of Asia, but Pocock 

 (1932) regards them as nothing more than races of Ursus arctos. 

 Separate accounts of two of these forms follow. 



The Old World Brown Bear is closely related to the Grizzly Bears 

 of North America and shows a decided resemblance to them in 

 food habits and economic status. The considerable human tolerance 

 exhibited toward it, together with its survival to the present day 

 in most of the thickly populated countries of Europe, leads one to 

 question the actual necessity for the ruthless war of extermination 

 that has been waged upon the Grizzlies in the relatively sparsely 

 settled areas of the Western United States. 



