THE BROWN BEAR 



( Ursus arches) 



WITH the exception of the hyaenas and the civets, all the more important 

 families of land Carnivora are represented in northern Europe ; the wild 

 cat and the lynx doing duty for the Felidce, the wolf and the fox for 

 the Canidce, the pine-marten, glutton, and otter, together with several smaller 

 species, for the Mustelidce, and the bear, or brown bear, as it is commonly called, in 

 order to distinguish it from its relatives — white, grey, or black — for the Ursidce. It 

 is further noteworthy that, with the exception of the wild cat, all these animals are 

 either common to the northern portions of the two hemispheres or are represented 

 in North America by species very closely allied to their European prototypes. 



The bear is one of the undoubtedly circumpolar species, for although distinct 

 names have been given to its American representatives, with the exception of 

 the grisly bear {Ursus horribilis), which is specifically different, all these are 

 obviously nothing more than local forms or races of a single variable and widely 

 distributed species. 



Even in the Old World there are many distinct races of the brown bear. In 

 Syria, for instance, we have a greyish race (U. arctus synacus) ; while in Kashmir 

 the coat is very generally deep cream-colour, although it tends to darken in old 

 individuals of this race, which is known as U. a. isabellinus. From the British 

 Isles the bear has long since been exterminated, but it survives in the wilder parts 

 of Spain, France, Germany, and Hungary, while it is still comparatively common in 

 many parts of Scandinavia and Russia, whence it extends right across Asia north of 

 the southern flank of the Himalaya to Kamchatka and Japan ; its southern limit to 

 the east of the Himalaya being marked by the Siamese race {U. a. skanorum). 

 Central Asian brown bears, of which the local races are not yet properly deter- 

 mined, generally have light-coloured coats, with a white gorget, which is wanting 

 in Scandinavian and Russian bears. The largest Old World race is the Kamchadale 

 brown bear {U. a. piscator or lasiotis), of which skins may measure as much as 

 9 feet in length. 



On the opposite side of Bering Strait Alaska vies with Kamchatka in 

 claiming the record in point of size among brown bears, while in the matter of local 

 variation the representatives of the species put the rest of the world into the shade, 

 for American naturalists recognise no fewer than half a dozen different races in 

 Alaska alone. These include the huge Kodiak bear (U. a. middendorffi) of Kodiak 

 Island, the Alaskan Peninsula bear {U. a. gyas), the gigantic Yakutat bear {U. a. 

 dalli) from the neighbourhood of Yakutat Bay and the coast for an undetermined 



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