SOME PALEARCXIC BEAKS. 93 



Mr. A. Sowerby has recently published a review of " Heude's 

 Bears in the Sikawei Museum and on Bears of Palearctic Eastern 

 Asia," In this paper he accepts Heude's specific name cavifrons, 

 and attaches the same to a Bear of N.W. Manchuria. Sowerby 

 himself has shot a Bear of this kind in N. Kirin, Manchuria. 

 According to the description, the exterior of this Bear must be 

 very similar to that of the present specimen, as it is said to be 

 " genei-ally black, merging into brown on the muzzle ; brownish 



on the head : " So far there is nothing which piohibits 



the specific identity of this Bear with Gray's U. lasiotus and the 

 present specimen. 



Mr. Sowerby has also published some measurements of his Bear 

 from Kirin, which may be compared with the corresponding ones 

 of the present specimen as recorded in the accompanying table. 

 The greatest length of the skull of Sowerby 's Bear is recoided as 

 16 in., or about 405 mm., thus only 18 mm. moi'e than the pre- 

 sent specimen. The greatest width of the former is 9*25 in. or 

 about 234 mm. ; the interorbital width is about 88 mm. If 

 " greatest width of cranium " is to be understood as width of 

 brain-case, this dimension, about 108 mm., is rather similar to 

 that of the present specimen. Some of the other measurements 

 recorded by Sowerby are less easily understood, and some are 

 certainly larger than those of the present specimen. This is 

 especially the case with the length of the lower jaw. As the 

 Bears generally are very variable, it is difficult to decide whether 

 these two are to be regarded as belonging to the same species or 

 not, for the negative conclusion emphasizes the fact that Sowerby 

 refers Heude's cavifrons to "■ Spelceus." As characteristic of the 

 latter he mentions "very high foreheads so that the cranial out- 

 line at this point is strongly concave.'^ Heude's figure of the 

 type shows also such a condition. In opposition to this our 

 Mongolian Bear shows a cranial outline which at the forehead is 

 nearly straight. The question then presents itself : How much 

 value can be attributed to such a characteristic as a more or less 

 concave or sti'aight facial profile line ? With my knowledge 

 about our Brown Bears in Sweden, I am not inclined to overrate 

 this characteristic, because I have found that it is very variable in 

 them. We have, for instance, fi'onj the same tract of Southern 

 Lapland, Bear skulls with straight profile and others with the 

 profile just as concave an Heude's figure of cavifroiis. This fact 

 does not, of course, prove that the variability of the Bears of 

 Mongolia and Manchuria in this respect is as great as in Europe, 

 but there is always the possibility or even probability that this is 

 the case. 



The imj)ortant cranial characteristic which Gray mentions as 



17. lasiotus Graj'. They are all much paler than the latter — brown, brownish grey 

 or lighter,— but even if they bad been black, and I am told there are also very dark 

 or black Bears in Kamtschatka, I think that such specimens must be easily recog- 

 nized by their softer and much more shaggy fur than the Mongolian Bear. Bears 

 which I have seen on several occasions in Zoological Gardens under the name of 

 77. piscator were also similar to the present Kamtschatka skins. 



