PRELIMINARY LIST . OF THE MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 347 



Ursus americanus Pallas Black bear 



1780 Ursus americanus Pallas, Spicilegia zoologica. Fasc. 14:5. 



1842 Ursus americanus De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 



p. 42. 

 1882 Ursus americanus Merriam, Linn. soc. New York. Trans. 1:95. 

 1898 Ursus americanus Mearns,U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21: 357. 



Type locality. North Carolina. 



Faunal position. The geographic variations of the black bear are so 

 imperfectly known that it is impossible to tell at present over what zones 

 the form found in New York extends. 



Habitat. Forests. 



Distribution in New York. The black bear is now exterminated 

 throughout the state except in the region of the Adirondacks and 

 Catskills. 



Principal records. De Kay : " The bear, once so numerous in this 

 state, is now chiefly to be found in the mountainous and thinly inhabited 

 districts " — ('42, p. 24). Merriam : " This . . . mammal ... is still abun- 

 dant in most parts of the wilderness " ('82, p. 95). Mearns : "Though 

 still common in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains the bear disap- 

 peared from the [Hudson] highlands many years ago though my father's 

 mother saw them there ('98a, p. 352). I saw recent signs of bears on 

 Plateau mountain, in August, 1896. Several bears were killed a few 

 miles south of the mountain during the same month . . . This species is 

 far from being exterminated in the Catskills " ('98b, p. 357). 



Lutra canadensis canadensis (Schreber) Northeastern otter 



1776 Mustela lutra canadensis Schreber, Saugethiere. 3 : pi. 126 B. 

 1803 Mustela hudsonica Desmarest, Nouv. diet, d'hist. nat. 13 : 384. 

 1831 Lutra hudsonica F. Cuvier, Suppl. Oeuvres de Buffon. 1 : 194. 

 1842 Lutra canadensis De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 



P- 39- 

 1882 Lutra canadensis Merriam, Linn. soc. New York. Trans. 1 : 87. 

 1896 Lutra canadensis Fisher, The Observer. May 1896. 7 : 199. 

 1898 Lutra hudsonica Mearns, Am. mus. nat. hist. Bui. 9 Sep. 1898. 



10:347. 

 1898 Lutra hudsonica Mearns, U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21 :36c 



Type locality. Eastern Canada. 



Faunal position. Boreal and transition zones. 



Habitat. Borders of lakes, rivers, streams and marshes. 



