334 



Measurements of twenty-nine sTculls of Mephitis mephitica. 





Locality. 



o 



§ 

 (-1 



•a 



Remarks. 



2617 



Petalnma, Cal 





3.30 

 3.08 

 2.93 

 2.85 

 3.12 

 3.50 

 3.10 

 2.98 

 3.15 

 2.96 

 3.25 

 3.00 

 2.87 

 2.85 

 2.90 

 2.70 

 2.87 

 2.70 

 2.75 

 2.72 

 2.88 

 2.90 

 2.87 

 2.60 

 2.80 



2.07 

 2.04 

 1.70 



'i.'87" 

 2.25 

 1.90 

 1.85 

 2.05 

 1.78 



'i.'ss' 



1.75 

 1.73 

 1.75 

 1.70 

 1.78 



1.5a 

 'i."76' 



1.78 



"\.m 



1.78 



'i.'eo" 



1.90 



Very old. 

 Very old. 



Fossil; M. frontata 

 Imperfect. 



Imperfect. 



Imperfect. 





3271 



do 







2434 









4195 









417 









419 

 416 



do 



do 







418 



do 







10008 









3327 









575 



Upton, Me 







580 



do 







577 



do 







574 



do , 







583 









578 



do 







569 



do :... 







507 









568 



do 







576 









3816 









2232 









610 









4833 









1620 









1004 







2.60 





1113 







2.68 

 2.90 

 2.68 





1395 









1878 

















UESUS ARCTOS, et vaes. 



In a series of seventeen rather aged skulls of Ursus arctos and its 

 varieties (all but one of the specimens being American), the largest 

 specimens are from California, the great metropolis of the " Grizzlies '^ 

 Of the eight skulls from this State, five attain a length of 14.50 or more, 

 three exceeding 15.00, and one reaching 15.60, while the smallest falls 

 as low as 13.25. Of live specimens from different localities in the Eocky 

 Mountains, three reach or exceed 14.40, the extremes being 14.75 and 

 13.35. Of three' specimens from the Arctic coast, one has a length of 

 13.40, and the others respectively 12.40 and 12.35. A single specimen 

 from Russia has a length of 13.75. These I regard as being all unques- 

 tionably conspeciflc, though perhaps referable to two or three subspe- 

 cies." Whether strictly so or not, we have the fact of the culmination in 

 size in the region where the Grizzlies are most abundant, namely, in 

 California ; these two facts, greatest abundance and largest size, seem- 

 ing to indicate this region as presenting the most favorable conditions 

 for the existence of these animals. The Eocky Mountain specimens 

 average considerably smaller than the Californian ; and though the spe- 

 cies is pretty frequent here it is far less abundant than on the Pacific 

 slope, especially in California and Oregon. The Franklin Bay speci- 

 mens, representing the so-called " Barren Ground Bear", and indistin- ■ 

 guishable from the true arctos of the Old World, are smaller even than 

 the specimens from the Eocky Mountains. v 



