NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 165 



source than other "species" having the same range. Present 

 information from the Alaska Peninsula, issued by the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, "leaves no question as to the 

 plenitude of the huge brown bears." 



Ursus middendorffi, Merriam. KODIAK BEAR 



Range : Confined to Kodiak and the adjacent islands Afognak 

 and Shuyak. This bear shares with gyas the distinction of 

 being the largest of living bears. The two are closely allied. 

 Present information indicates that its numbers are being 

 maintained. 



KENAIENSIS GROUP 



Ursus kenaiensis Merriam. KENAI GIANT BEAR 



Range: Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. No recent statistics are 

 at hand. With the passage of the Alaska game law in 1925, 

 however, the conditions are probably as favorable as may be 

 expected. According to the 1938 press information of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, "there has been a perceptible 

 change for the better in the brown and grizzly bear population." 



Ursus sheldoni Merriam. MONTAGUE ISLAND BEAR 



Range: Believed to be confined to Montague Island, Prince 

 William Sound, Alaska. The name is based on specimens of 

 the brown bear type taken in 1905. No recent information as 

 to the bear of this island is at hand. 



INOPINATUS GROUP 

 Vetularctos inopinatus Merriam. PATRIARCHAL BEAR 



This genus and species were based on a skull from Rendez- 

 vous Lake, northeast of Fort Anderson, Mackenzie, but the 

 genus is currently regarded as inseparable from Ursus, while 

 the species is not further known beyond the original specimen 

 collected in 1864. Its peculiarities would ordinarily be as- 

 cribed to individual variation. 



Family MUSTELIDAE: Weasels and Martens 

 THE PINE MARTENS 



Among the northern fur bearers the martens, because of 

 their soft, handsome fur, are much sought after, and their 

 pelts bring high prices in the markets. They are characteristic 

 of the evergreen forest belt of the northern United States 

 northward into Canada and extend their range southward 



