| OCR Text |
Show 1897.] BLUE BEAR OF TIBET. 421 Afghanistan to Nepal, appears to be generally smaller than the European Brown Bear, but is specially characterized by the light creamy-brown tint of the winter pelage. Very old males, which grow to a large size, are, however, considerably darker. Tbe skull (fig. 2, p. 420) is characterized by the obtuse angle formed in the profile at the anterior border of the orbits, and the median hollow where the nasals join the frontals. The fourth lower premolar (fig. 1, p. 419) is relatively long and narrow-, with both the anterior and posterior inner tubercles well developed. 5. URSUS ARCTUS COLLARIS.-Kamschatkan Brown Bear. Ursus collaris, F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. M a m m . livr. xliii. (1824); Fitzinger, SB. Akad. Wien, vol. Ixxxiv. p. 16 (1881). Ursus arctos, var. Beringiana, Middendorff, Sibir. Beise, vol. i. pt. ii, taf. i. (1851). Ursus piscator, Pucberan, Bev. Zool. 1855, p. 392; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 817. Ursus lasiotus, Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xx. p. 301 (1867); Cat, Carniv.Brit. Mus. p. 223 (1869). Ursus beringiana, Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, x. p. 69 (1896). The typical U. collaris of F. Cuvier is from Siberia, but there can be no reasonable doubt of its identity with the U. arctos var. beringiana of Middendorff ( = U.piscator and U. lasiotus). Busk1, who regarded all the North American members of the group as referable to a single species, identified U. piscator therewith. Fitzinger2 gives the range as extending from the Ural through the whole of Siberia to Kamschatka. It is one of tbe largest of all living land Bears, old specimens probably attaining a length of fully nine feet. Fitzinger's description is as follows :-The hinder part of the head is broad and long, with convex parietals, and a flattened forehead, passing gradually into a long, thick, aud abruptly truncated snout. Compared with the common Brown Bear, the ears are shorter and more rounded, the body is thick and massive, and the hair long and tangled. The colour varies from light yellowish-brown to blackish-brown, a broad whitish gorget extends from the throat to the shoulders, and the legs are black. The hair on the flanks darkens with age. H e adds that this Bear is undoubtedly distinct from the common Brown Bear of Europe, and that it is abundant in Kamschatka. According to Gray the light collar is not constant. There are several skulls of this form in the British Museum. In a sub-adult specimen the vaulting of the frontal region is moderately developed. In a very old one there is a distinct concavity at the root of the nasals, and the zygomatic width is not excessive. The fourth lower premolar has only the posterior inner tubercle developed. I do not know tbe form and length of the claws. 1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. x. p. 64 (1877). 2 SB. Ak. Wien, vol. Ixxxiv. p. 16 (1881). |
