6o THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



29, 1899, he defines the general characteristics 

 of Alces gigas as follows: "A larger, more richly- 

 colored animal than the eastern moose; skull with 

 occipital portion narrower, palate broader, and 

 mandible much heavier than in Alces americanusJ^ 

 But Hornaday denies to the Alaska moose 

 stature superior to the moose of New Brunswick, 

 and as for the other dimensions, the Alaska moose 

 is quite as disinclined to submit his skull for 

 measurement as the moose in other ranges/^ 

 Mr. Miller based his conclusions on the study of 

 six specimens, four of which were males, secured 

 in the summer of 1898 on the Kenai Peninsula 

 by Dall De Weese for the United States National 

 Museum. Whether the same specific differences 

 would be found if a much larger number of speci- 

 mens from Alaska were compared with an equal 

 number from the Atlantic coast may be a matter of 

 doubt. 



It is believed that the antlers of the Alaska 

 moose are of large size because of peculiar condi- 



" A new'sub-species of moose from Wyoming is described in a leaflet 

 of the Biological Society of Washington, pubHshed April 25, 1914. It is 

 called Alces americanus shirasi, or Shiras moose, in honor of Hon. 

 George Shiras, 3d, who explored the southeastern section of the Yellow- 

 stone National Park in the summers of 1908, 1909, and 19 10, and dis- 

 covered great numbers of moose. The new sub-species is distinguished 

 from the moose of Maine and eastern Canada by lighter coloration and 

 smaller hoofs, but cranial differences are not appreciable. 



