4 1 2 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI.] 



the middle of the back, broadens a little and darkens to deep dusky 

 f errugineous ; the whole dorsal area, from a little behind the shoulders 

 to the rump, is pale fawn color, darkest medially and fading out on the 

 sides to pale buffy white. This colored area corresponds in position 

 and outline with the dark dorsal patch of the adults. A narrow, ill- 

 defined, dusky chestnut brown band borders the hoofs of all the feet, 

 but is rather broader and more distinct on the hind feet than on the 

 fore feet. The tail is wholly white to the base, as in the adults. 



The adult specimens, though killed in June, are in winter 

 coat, the hair being long, thick, and very soft, much softer and 

 finer than in the Greenland Caribou, and the skins are also 

 much thinner and softer. The skin of the fawn was pre- 

 served in brine, which may have slightly intensified or 

 darkened the buffy shades of the dorsal surface. 



Rangifer pearyi is evidently a very distinct insular form, 

 very different from R. grcenlandicus in coloration and doubt- 

 less in other features. Unfortunately only flat skins are 

 available for examination. Specimens of R. grcenlandicus in 

 corresponding pelage are dark slaty brown above, this color 

 fading gradually on the sides to the white of the ventral sur- 

 face, the Greenland Caribou being very much darker in its 

 winter pelage than the Newfoundland Caribou, which hereto- 

 fore h-as been the whitest known form of the group. 



I am indebted to Commander Peary for the following in- 

 formation regarding the occurrence of Caribou in Ellesmere 

 Land. In a letter dated Philadelphia, October 13, 1902, he 

 says: " In answer to your inquiries I will say that remains 

 and traces of reindeer have been noted by previous explorers 

 at the following points in Ellesmere Land and Grinnell Land : 

 Alexandra Haven, Ellesmere Land; Rawlings Bay, Grinnell 

 Land, and in the Fort Conger region, Grinnell Land; and an 

 antler was picked up by a member of my party in the sum- 

 mer of 1901 at Erik Harbor, some twelve miles south of 

 Cape Sabine. The published reports of Sverdrup's expedi- 

 tion state that he found reindeer in abundance on the west 

 side of Ellesmere Land. 



" I have seen many winter coats of the Greenland Caribou 

 and they are pronouncedly darker than the Ellesmere speci- 

 mens." 



