304 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



herds of interior Alaska, they are at present in no danger of 

 extinction and with proper regulation of hunting should hold 

 their numbers for a long period. 



OSBORN'S CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER ARCTICTJS OSBORNI J. A. Allen 



Rangifer osbarni J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 16, p. 149, Apr. 16, 

 1902 ("Cassiar Mountains (60 miles southeast of Dease Lake), British 

 Columbia"). 



FIGS.: Grant, 1902, pis. 18-21 (unnumbered) (head with antlers). 



This race of the barren-ground caribou is darker than R. a. 

 stonei with the dusky tipping of the white throat fringe more 

 pronounced and the maxillary tooth row longer, averaging 

 about 100.5 mm., according to Murie. The differences are, 

 however, actually slight, and it is hard to find any very tangible 

 distinctions between the two, beyond these average ones of 

 size and color. The antlers sometimes show the flattened form 

 of beam characteristic of the woodland caribou. 



The geographic range of R. a. osborni includes southern 

 Yukon and northern British Columbia, where according to 

 late information it is still -"reasonably common" (R. M. 

 Anderson, 1939b). This race is believed to be much less mi- 

 gratory than the others. 



PEARY'S CARIBOU; ELLESMERE LAND CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER ARCTICUS PEARYI J. A. Allen 



Rangifer pearyi J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 16, p. 409, Oct. 31, 1902 



("Ellesmere Land, N. Lat. 79"). 

 FIGS.: Allen, J. A., 1908, figs. 1-6 (antlered skulls); Nelson, 1916, p. 421 (col. fig.). 



The caribou of Ellesmere Land, Grinnell Land, and Grant 

 Land is smaller than the Greenland caribou or the typical 

 R. a. arcticus, its nearest neighbors, and is nearly pure white 

 in color, with, however, a slight admixture of gray to gray- 

 brown in the middle area of the back. The maxillary tooth 

 row ranges from 83 to 95 mm. The antlers "have a much 

 greater upward curvature than in arcticus, in proportion to 

 their length," and the main beam has an average length of 

 about 1,019 mm. 



From Peary's notes on these caribou, which range the Arctic 

 islands mentioned, it appears that they live in small scattered 



