16 
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The type species, U. horribilis, is distributed throughout the 
Rockies from Alaska to Mexico, with two subspecies, the Alas- 
kan grizzly, U. alascensis, described from Norton Sound, the ex- 
istence of which is still in dispute, and the great California 
grizzly, U. horriaeus. 
THE BROWN BEAR GROUP. 
The third, and judged by the same tests, the latest group to ar- 
rive was that of the Alaskan brown bears. Its members have 
departed but little from the Eurasian bears, and a comparison of 
forms may bring the resemblance still closer. 
These bears have known a distribution along the South Alaska 
coast as far as the mountains at the head of Portland Canal, and 
extend probably far inland toward the north. While the group 
has split up into a number of races, the gradations are scarcely 
distinguishable and it is probable that the further examination 
of specimens from intermediate points will result in the merging 
of some of the species. 
The American type of the brown bear is the great Kodiak bear, 
U. middendorth, from Kodiak and adjoining islands. It is the 
largest of all living carnivores, and is closely related to the main- 
land bear along the adjoining coast. 
These mainland bears have been assigned to a number of spe- 
cies or subspecies, beginning on the west in the Alaskan penin- 
sula : U. merriami or U. gyas ; further to the east, U. kidderi of 
Cook Inlet ; U. dalli of Yakutat Bay, and U. sitkensis, which 
appears to be the most eastern of the group. 
Turning now to the fossil record we find no fossil bear in 
North America until the Pleistocene, whereas bear abounded in 
Europe in the Lower Pliocene. A related form, known as Arcto- 
therium, entered South America during the Pleistocene, but un- 
doubtedly came from the north, as it has also been found in the 
Pleistocene cave deposits of California. 
MUSTELINES OR WEASELS. 
Of the American members of the Mustelidae there are but three 
genera which are peculiar to America. First, the American 
badger, Taxidea, which dates back at least as far as the Pleisto- 
cene ; and the skunks, Mephitis and Spilogale, neither of which 
have Eurasian equivalents, nor American ancestors. Paleontol- 
ogy gives us but little light on these three genera. 
