cHAr. IV THE BIG GAME OF ALASKA 45 



I have referred elsewhere to the partiality of all American 

 naturalists for describing new species or sub-species of 

 animals, and there is no doubt that in the case of the 

 large brown bears of Alaska they have given free scope 

 to their sentiments in this direction. I do not mean to 

 insinuate for a moment that they make assertions which they 

 are unable to support with specimens to prove their accuracy, 

 but I do think that in certain cases a very few specimens, 

 brought probably by one man from a certain district, have 

 been deemed sufficient to warrant the authorities in found- 

 ing a new species, even although the variations between 

 that species and one already known are only in very 

 minute details. Some years ago Dr. Merriam published a 

 paper on the bears of America, giving much valuable and 

 useful information. This still remains the only general 

 paper on the subject published in America. 



Since this paper was published, three distinct names 

 have been given to supposed forms of large brown bears. 

 These are Ursus kidderi, Urstis dalli gyas, and Urstis 

 merria7ni. The one called merriami is unquestionably the 

 same 2lS gyas, and the original specimens of each came from 

 places within a few miles of each other. Which of the names 

 should prevail depends on the question of priority of publica- 

 tion, as the descriptions appeared within a few days of each 

 other, gyas being slightly in advance. According to the 

 account given me by Mr. Osgood, a plain statement of 

 the knowledge of the authorities at Washington as regards 

 the subject is somewhat as follows : — 



The brown bears of Alaska are all of one general type, 

 and distinct from the grizzlies and other bears, and from the 

 standpoint of any one who is not a professional mammalogist 

 they might well be considered as one species. They are 



