IV THE BIG GAME OF ALASKA 65 



lie nimium crede colori — has been too often ignored by 

 zoologists. Antler development is, if anything, a more 

 variable quantity than either of the preceding characters." 



All the caribou of Alaska, with the exception of perhaps 

 a few Rangifer osborni found in the extreme south-east part, 

 may be said to belong to the group of Barren Land caribou, 

 and according to the American classification the species 

 are as follows : — Rangifer arcticus, Rangifer granti, and 

 Rangifer stonei. 



Rangifer arcticus roams over the extreme northern part 

 of Alaska, inhabiting the Barren Lands and extending far 

 down into the interior of the country. 



Rangifer granti is found on the Alaska Peninsula and 

 Unimak Island. There are many thousands of them still on 

 the peninsula, in spite of the immense numbers killed in 

 recent years by natives and others hunting for the meat 

 market. Speaking of this species, Mr. Grant says : 

 " R. granti, inhabiting the extreme west of the Alaska 

 Peninsula, has, thanks to the agency of man, been separated 

 from its nearest relatives, so that we have lost whatever 

 forms there may have existed intermediate between it and 

 its close kindred on the Arctic coast." 



I do not quite understand this statement, since I have 

 myself seen caribou all along the Alaska Peninsula, both on 

 the Pacific and on the Bering Sea side. They still migrate 

 along the peninsula from the direction of Lake Iliamna to 

 the westward, and going east from Lake Iliamna caribou are 

 found extending all the way along the divide between the 

 head-waters of the west branch of the Sushitna River and 

 the Kuskokwim River. I have seen a number of good 

 heads killed by natives from the last-named district. Just 

 where Rangifer granti ceases to exist, or merges with other 



