THE INLAND WHITE BEAR 105 



on all parts save the muzzle from the eyes forward, which is 

 dark brown or black. The hair is long, very thick, woolly in 

 texture, and stands out straight all over the body. The rarity 

 of this animal in collections and the long delay in its discovery 

 are partly due to the rough, inhospitable, and dangerous char- 

 acter of the country in which it lives. 



The Inland White Bear. — The most interesting discov- 

 ery in bears of the past ten years is the Inland White Bear 

 of northern British Columbia, described by the author (New 

 York Zoological Society, Ninth Annual Report, 1905) from 

 specimens brought to light through the enterprising efforts 

 of Mr. Francis Kermode, curator of the Provincial Museum at 

 Victoria, British Columbia. The species was named TJrsus 

 kermodei. 



This is a small bear, of a clear, creamy-white color, struc- 

 turally belonging in the group of black bears. The type 

 specimens came from Gribble Island. At first the type speci- 

 mens were by some observers believed to be albino black 

 bears, but the twenty-five or more specimens that have 

 been taken since 1905 thoroughly dispose of that idea. The 

 Inland White Bear has come to stay. Five mounted speci- 

 mens are shown in a group in the Victoria Museum, and 

 another is to be seen in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh. 

 Up to 1914 no specimens had been taken alive. 



The Spectacled Bear. — ^The bear species of South 

 America are very few in number, very difiicult to find, and 

 are among the rarest of the animals to be seen in zoological 

 parks and gardens. So far as we know, there are two forms, 

 both of which are found only in the mountains of the great 



