July 31. 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



145 



word, Uvre. In respect to this country, how- 

 ever, there may be danger, as Prof. Slosson in- 

 timates, that we may after all drift into a less 

 satisfactory system than the metric, in case the 

 adoption of the latter should be too long de- 

 layed. 



At the present moment we are really in some 

 sort in the predicament of the boy blubbering 

 at the street corner, who explained to the 

 sympathetic stranger that his hands were so 

 cold that he couldn't put on his mittens be- 

 cause it would 'hurt.' It would have been 

 false and futile to have told the urchin that his 

 hands were not cold or that the enterprise he 

 shrank from could bring no pain, but it might 

 have been well to convince him that he was a 

 baby, and to have suggested ways and means 

 of taking the leap with the least possible incon- 

 venience. 



F. H. Stoker. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Preliminary Synopsis of the American Bears. By 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Proc. Biol. Soc. 



Washington, X., 1896, pp. 65-83, pll. iv-vi. 



April 13, 1896. 



Material for the comparative study of any of 

 the larger mammals is exceedingly troublesome 

 to bring together in satisfactory amount, owing 

 to its bulky character and the labor and expense 

 of its preparation and transportation. This is 

 particularly the case with our North American 

 bears, where the large series of specimens, 

 skins as well as skulls, necessary for their de- 

 tailed study, is especially difficult to acquire. 

 By the expenditure of much time and labor Dr. 

 Merriam has been able to gather for the present 

 investigation about 200 skulls, but, owing to 

 the lack of proper material, has been unable to 

 treat of the external characters of the species 

 and sub-species he believes are entitled to 

 recognition. In fact, of several of the forms 

 here for the first time recognized no skins exist 

 in any of our museums. We, hence, have here 

 merely a preliminary announcement of the re- 

 sults of a study of the cranial and dental char- 

 acters, which is ' to be followed later by a more 

 comprehensive treatise. ' This preliminary an- 

 nouncement, however, is most welcome, since 

 it has been for some time evident that the num- 



ber of forms of North American bears is much 

 greater than has been currently recognized. 



As all are aware who have made a study of 

 bears, the range of individual variation, in 

 cranial as well as in external characters, is 

 quite extended, in addition to which there is 

 much variation due to age and sex. This Dr. 

 Merriam duly concedes, and still finds, after 

 making allowance for such differences, charac- 

 ters that appear to be constant, by which the 

 species and sub-species may be recognized. In 

 view of what is now known of the variability, 

 with varying conditions of environment, of the 

 smaller North American mammals, it is not 

 surprising that Dr. Merriam has found it neces- 

 sary to recognize a considerable number of new 

 forms. Whether their status will be that of 

 full species or in some cases that of sub-species 

 merely, it is evidently too early to determine. 

 Of the eleven species here formally admitted, 

 five are described as new, and two additional 

 sub-species are incidentally indicated as prob- 

 ably worthy of recognition. 



Heretofore it has been customary to refer the 

 bears of North America to three groups, con- 

 sisting of the polar bear type, the grizzly bear 

 type and the black bear type. To these Dr. 

 Merriam adds the Sitka bear type and the 

 Kadiak bear type. The polar bear was long 

 since separated from the land bears as Tholarctos 

 maritimus (Linn.), and remains thus far a mono- 

 typic group. The black bears were also some 

 time since distinguished as a separate sub-genus 

 {Euarctos Gray) of the genus Ursus, in which 

 latter genus all the other North American bears 

 are still retained. 



Dr. Merriam considers that ' ' the black bears 

 may be separated into at least four species, hav- 

 ing more or less circumscribed geographic 

 ranges." He recognized of the grizzly bear 

 group also four more or less marked forms. As 

 distinct from the grizzlies, Dr. Merriam dis- 

 tinguishes, as already said, two other types of 

 large bears, one of which consists of two species 

 and the other of one, the Ursus middendorffi, 

 'the largest of living bears,' and 'differing 

 markedly from the other American species. ' 



The species and sub-species recognized in this 

 important paper are the following : 



1. Polar Bear, Thalarctos maritimus Linn. 



