UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 163-166 Issued April 18, 1911 



NOTE ON A GIGANTIC BEAR FROM THE 

 PLEISTOCENE OF RANCHO LA BREA 



BY 



JOHN C. MEBKIAM. 



With the exception of a single tooth obtained by the writer 

 during his first examination of the Los Angeles asphalt beds in 

 1906, no remains representing the bear family are known to have 

 been obtained from Raneho La Brea until very recently. A 

 few months ago Mr. Guintyllo, Assistant in Palaeontology at the 

 University of California, called the attention of the writer to a 

 small collection of foot-bones representing a gigantic bear, 

 obtained by Mr. Eugene Fisher during the excavation work 

 carried on for the University of California at Rancho La Brea. 

 As the bones which have recently come to light seem to represent 

 an animal of the same type as that suggested by the tooth found 

 some years ago, it seems desirable to place on record the infor- 

 mation available. 



The tooth (figs. 1 and 2) obtained in 1906 is a very large 

 lower canine, differing decidedly from the canine teeth of the 

 carnivore species thus far described from Rancho La Brea. It 

 is of extraordinarily large size, exceeding in dimensions the in- 

 ferior canines of Felix atrox bebbi (the enormous lion of Rancho 

 La Brea), Arctotheriiun simum (the cave bear of Northern 

 California), and the gigantic Recent Alaskan bears. The crown 

 of the tooth is short and thick, and the curve of the posterior 

 border is more sharply marked than in most forms. It is thicker 

 transversely and more strongly concave posteriorly than in 



