THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR 187 



There are only two species of bear that inhabit 

 the United States, the grizzly and the black bear. 

 This does not, of course, include the several 

 species found in Alaska. The black bears are 

 divided into sub-species, and although the differ- 

 ence is not very conspicuous to the common eye, 

 naturalists have agreed quite generally on the 

 following list as covering those within our bor- 

 ders. The name in parenthesis is that of the man 

 who has been credited with having classified them : 



The American Black Bear, Ursus Americanus 

 (Pallas). 



Florida Black Bear, Ursus Floridanus (Mer- 

 riam) . 



Louisiana Black Bear, Ursus Luterlus ( Grif- 

 fith). 



Northwestern Black Bear, Ursus Artifron- 

 talis (Elliott). 



Clallam County, Washington. 



The fact that the second species is called a 

 black bear leads many people to believe that it 

 necessarily follows that a bear to belong to the 

 latter species has to be black, but I can almost see 

 you smile when I tell you that you may kill a 

 black bear that is white. By this I mean to illus- 

 trate that bears belonging to the black bear 

 species enjoy a cheerful amount of color varia- 



