Article XXXII. A NEW CARIBOU FROM ELLESMERE 



LAND. 



By J. A. ALLEN. 



The valuable natural history material brought by the 

 Arctic explorer, Commander R. E. Peary, U. S. N., to the 

 American Museum of Natural History on his return from his 

 recent long sojourn in the high North contains five specimens 

 of Caribou taken in Ellesmere Land, Lat. 79, in June, 1902. 

 They comprise four flat skins of adults without skulls, and 

 more or less defective, and the complete skin of a young 

 fawn. In coloration they are strikingly different from any 

 other known Caribou, being pure white except for a large 

 dark patch on the middle and posterior part of the back. 



Rangifer pearyi, sp. nov. 

 ELLESMERE LAND CARIBOU. 



Type, No. 19231 $ ad., Ellesmere Land, N. Lat. 79, June 15, 1902, 

 Commander Robert E. Peary, U. S. N. 



Entire animal pure white except an oval grayish brown patch over 

 the posterior half of the dorsal surface, gradually fading into white 

 towards the shoulders, the hair being white to the base, or of a pale 

 shade of lilac below the surface, where the surface color is white. The 

 dorsal patch occupies an area of about 670 mm. in length by 350 mm. 

 in width, and is drab-gray, divided by a very narrow median line of 

 white. The legs and feet are wholly white ; the ears are slightly tinged 

 with gray, the hair beneath the surface being plumbeous and showing 

 slightly at the surface. The antlers are just budding, being represented 

 by small protuberances, about an inch and a half in length, covered 

 with short hair. Total length of flat skin, 1660 mm. Corresponding 

 measurement of flat skins of the dark form of Caribou from Green- 

 land, 1820 mm. 



A female (No. 19232) is similar, except that the dark' dorsal area ex- 

 tends a little further forward at the shoulders, and is a little darker. As 

 in the male, the patch fades out to whitish toward the shoulders. 

 Length of the flat skin, 1560 mm. 



Two other females are similarly marked, but the dorsal patch in both 

 is much darker, approaching dark slate gray. The region around the 

 base of the antlers and ears is clouded with grayish, as are the edges of 



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