352 | BIG GAME SHOOTING 
(Ursus maritimus). My correspondent adds that ‘a lot of 
varieties and sub-species have been made, but not upon any 
certain characters.’ Among these varieties and sub-species 
may, I suppose, be reckoned Ursus Richardsonii, the Alaskan. 
grizzly, as well as a whole host of bears, best known to 
: Western trappers as cinnamon bears, silver-tips, roach- backs, 
bald-faces, and range bears. 
Luckily for me, the question of species is one for naturalists 
rather than for sportsmen to decide ; the claim to rank as a 
Dead grizzly 
distinct species appearing to rest rather upon a beast’s anatomy 
than upon his outward appearance and manner of life. 
Having studied bears with some care and under favourable 
circumstances in more than one portion of the globe, I incline 
to the belief that the different species cross almost as freely as 
do different breeds of dogs ; and certainly it seems probable 
that upon the North American continent all the different 
varieties owe their origin to the grizzly or the black, or to 
a union between the two. In this view I am supported by 
