59.9, 735 R 



Article XXII. THE PEARY CARIBOU (RANGIFER PEARYI 



ALLEN). 



BY J. A. ALLEN. 



A large series of specimens, including perfect skins and skulls of both 

 sexes, and also of young adults, obtained by Commander R. E. Peary in 

 northern Grant Land, in October, 1905, enable me to complete the de- 

 scription of this very distinct and beautiful species, which was originally 

 described from imperfect skins, without skulls, taken by Commander Peary 

 in Ellesmere Land, in June, 1902. 1 Its nearly pure white color and small 

 size distinguish it strikingly from all other known species of the genus. 



The present large series, numbering 67 skins and 53 skulls, was collected 

 on Fielden Peninsula and in the vicinity of Lake Hazen, in about latitude 

 82 N., and hence about three degrees north of the type locality, which is 

 near the northern border of Ellesmere Land. As, however, P'llesmere 

 Land, Grinnell Land, and Grant Land form a continuous land area, with 

 everywhere quite similar climatic conditions, the Caribou of Ellesmere Land 

 and Grant Land are probably not markedly differentiated, although the 

 gray brown mantle in the Ellesmere Land specimens is, with one exception, 

 considerably darker than in the Grant Land specimens. This is hardly 

 to be accounted for by difference of season, since the Ellesmere specimens, 

 though taken in June, were still in winter pelage. 



Rangifer pearyi differs from both R. grosnlandicus and R. arcticus, its 

 nearest allies geographically, in being very much smaller, taking the skull 

 as a basis for comparison (external measurements taken in the flesh are 

 lacking), the females of grocnlandicus and arcticus being as large as the 

 males of pearyi. In color pearyi is radically different, being sometimes 

 almost as pure white as the Arctic Fox or the Arctic Hare, at least in effect 

 when seen in life at a little distance. Peary's reference to this species in 

 his 'Nearest the Pole' (1907, p. 57), "as this magnificent snow white animal," 

 is hardly an exaggeration, although the median area of the back in nearly 

 all the specimens shows a mixture of gray, varying in different individuals 

 from a slight tinge of gray to gray-brown, and also in the extent of this area, 

 which is sometimes much restricted, and sometimes forms a broad mantle. 



The large series of skins of R. grosnlandicus here used for comparison 

 was collected in November, by Commander Peary, at Inglefield Gulf, on 



1 This Bulletin, Vol XVI, pp. 419-412, figs 1 and 2, Oct. 31, 1902. Republished in Peary's 

 ' Nearest the Pole,' 1907, pp. 350-352. 



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