MAMMALIA. 23 
frequented by the Black Bear. It does not, however, possess the boldness of the 
Ursus ferox, as all the individuals we saw fled at once. The Barren-ground Bear 
resorts to the coast of the Arctic Sea in the month of August, and preys indis- 
criminately upon animal and vegetable matters. In the stomach of one which 
I opened there were the remains of a seal, a marmot, a large quantity of the 
long sweet roots of some astragali and hedysara, together with some berries, and 
a little grass. Many long white worms adhered to the interior of the stomach 
which held this farrago. Hearne has given the name of Grizzle Bear Hill to 
an eminence which had been much ploughed up by the Bears in quest of the 
Arctomys Parryt, termed by him “ Ground Hog.’’ The appellation of “ grizzly,” 
first used by Hearne to designate this Bear, being also applied by the traders 
and American authors to the Ursus feror, I have given this one the ad interim 
name of Barren-ground Bear, until its difference from, or identity with, the Ursus. 
arctos of Linneus be fully established *. 
DESCRIPTION. 
We saw several of these animals during Captain Franklin’s first Expedition. An old and 
lean male, killed on the shores of the Arctic Sea on the Ist of August, 1821, was of a nearly 
uniform yellowish-brown colour, except on the forehead and back, where the tips of the fur 
were paler. The fur, which was straight, and of the fineness of coarse wool, was giving 
place to a thin coat of blackish hair. Its forehead was broad, and slightly convex, and the 
arch of the orbit rose conspicuously at the root of the nose, which was straight. The legs 
were long, and the claws, of an intermediate size between those of the Black and Grisly 
Bears, projected beyond the hairs, and were more pointed than the claws of the latter. 
Dental formula, incisors =, canines =, spurious molars =, grinders #3 = 36, 
The incisors were worn flat, except one on each side, which adjoined the canine-teeth, and 
which rose in a point above the others. The canines strong, conical, and slightly curved, 
projected an inch and a quarter above the gums. Two small and pointed spurious molar- 
teeth (dents espacées) rose on each side of the upper jaw, and were succeeded by three 
tuberculated molars that increased in size from the first to the last. The first of these was 
pointed anteriorly, and had a lobe posteriorly which exhibited the section of two points. The 
other two were worn quite flat; the second, or carnivorous-tooth, presented the section of 
two pairs of points ; and the last, and largest, the section of three pairs. In the lower jaw, one 
small spurious molar-tooth was situated close to the canines. The first of the true molars was 
pointed, without any flattened lobe; the remaining three differed little from each other in 
size, though the middle one was rather the largest; and their crowns were worn so smooth, 
that no vestige remained of the points they originally possessed. 
* In the appendix to Captain Parry’s second voyage, from a hasty consideration of the subject, I erroneously stated 
the Barren-ground Bear to be the brown variety of the American Black Bear. 
