SOUTH AMERICA 397 



This is the only member of the bear family living in South 

 America, where as a species it occurs from the Andes near the 

 Venezuela-Colombia boundary, across Colombia and Ecuador, 

 to Peru, northern Chile, and Bolivia. Although several names 

 have been given to specimens of the species, the supposed 

 differences appear to rest mainly on individual variations. 

 Thomas (1902) found that skulls from Ecuador differed from 

 the typical southern skulls in being larger, longer in proportion, 

 and more slender, and the teeth "rather larger throughout." 

 He therefore named these latter specimens as a northern race, 

 majori, but even yet it is uncertain what are the limits of 

 variation in the more northern bears, or how the ranges of the 

 two races should be drawn. As long ago as 1844, Tschudi dis- 

 tinguished the Peruvian animal as Ursus frugilegus on account 

 of the supposed shorter head, shorter soles of the feet, and 

 much slenderer body, but the differences appear again to be 

 of an individual nature, and the Peruvian animal is currently 

 believed to be inseparable from that of Chile. In 1911 Horna- 

 day casually bestowed the name Ursus ornatus thomasi on a 

 bear of this species from the Andes of southern Colombia 

 living in the New York Zoological Gardens, but, again, the 

 supposed diagnostic character, the lack of white markings, is 

 now known to be individually variable ; and Maria's Tremarctos 

 lasallei from Arauca, Colombia, based on a mounted skin, 

 having longer muzzle and claws than typical majori, can 

 hardly be other than a synonym of the latter. 



In coloring and pattern both northern and southern races 

 are apparently alike. The entire body is uniformly black or 

 blackish brown, except that usually there is a narrow line of 

 white beginning on each side about halfway between the ear 

 and the eye, continuing forward nearly to the bridge of the 

 muzzle in front of the eye, then turning downward across the 

 cheek to the midline of the throat, and continuing parallel 

 with the corresponding mark of the other side, to the chest. 

 This marking, which from the semicircle about the eyes, gives 

 the bear its English name, shows, however, considerable varia- 

 tion. Its upper part may be washed with pale yellowish; 

 again, the muzzle may be light tan, or more extensively 

 whitish, to include the forehead, nose, cheeks, and throat. 

 As an opposite extreme, the white markings may be lacking 

 altogether in animals from the same region. Cuvier mentions 



