p. 149-158 : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references

Allen, J. A. (Joel Asaph), 1838-1921.

Constable Expeditions to the Northwest (1897-1899)

Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946.

Stone, A. J. (Andrew Jackson), b. 1859.

American Museum of Natural History Scientific Publications

Article XV.-DESCRIPTION OF A NEW CARIBOU FROMNORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND RE-MARKS ON RANGIFER MYONTANUS.By J. A. ALLEN.A series of Caribou collected by Mr. Andrew J. Stone for theAmerican Museum in the Cassiar Mountains, northern BritishColumbia, September 15-26, I897, were provisionally referredby me to Rangifer montanus,' described in August, I899, byMr. Ernest Seton-Thompson 2 from a mounted specimen in theMuseum of the Canadian Geological Survey, "taken in theIllecillewaet watershed, near Revelstoke, Selkirk Range, B.C., in I889." A series of four specimens, two fine adult malesand two fine adult females, taken September 26, I90I, havejust been received by the Museum, collected in the GoldRange Mountains, twenty-five miles southeast of Sicamous,and are thus practically topotypes of Rangifer niontanus.These specimens show that the Caribou from the CassiarMountains is very different from Rangifer miontanus of the Sel-kirks. The specimens of the two series having both beentaken during the last half of September, they are strictlycomparable as regards season.Rangifer osborni, sp. nov.Rangifer montanus ALLEN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, I900,Art. I., pp. i-i8, figs. 2-6, II, I5, and i6. Not Rangifer montanusSeton-Thompson.Type, No. I57I4, 8 ad., Cassiar Mountains, British Columbia, Sept.,I897; Andrew J. Stone (James M. Constable Expedition).The largest of all known Caribou, with very long and very heavyantlers, which have a low and very long backward sweep.Adult Male, in September.3-.General color above clove-brown, dark-est on the head, back, thighs, and lower edge of the sides of the chest,and still darker, blackish brown, on the breast and limbs; muzzle, in-cluding the whole end of the nose and front border of the lower lip,'This Bulletin, Vol. XIII, I9oo, pp. i-i8, April 3, i9oo.2'Preliminary Description of a New Caribou,' The Ottawa Naturalist, XIII, Au-gust, I899, pp. I29, I30.3The following description and measurements are from my former paper (I. c., pp.5 and 6).[149]I 50 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI,silvery grayish white, succeeded by a broad band of blackish brown,which fades posteriorly on the sides of the head and below into thegeneral color, but extends broadly over the front part of the head toA,wwr ".a;.., I;ig.sRa.rosbni,ad., No. 4,cassiar Mts.,B. c.. A. J. Stone.Aat.. s..........i.....Fig. I. Rangfer osborni, 8 ad., No. 15714, Cassiar Mts., B. C.; A. J. Stone. 1 nat. size.1902.] Allen, A New Caribou from the Cassiar Mts., B. C. 1 5 1the eyes; neck all round brownish gray, lighter on the sides than above,becoming nearly white in front; the gray color of the sides of the neckextends posteriorly over the anterior part of the shoulders, and is con-tinued as an ill-defined broad band on the sides of the chest; ventralsurface, from the chest posteriorly, grayish white, passing into purewhite posteriorly and on the inside of the thighs; rump patch white,large and sharply defined; tail above centrally dark brown like theback, broadly edged and tipped with white; a narrow band of purewhite borders the hoofs; ears externally dark brown, mixed with grayand edged with blackish; internally much lighter, becoming light grayat the inner base. In one specimen there is a broad band of whitishkFig. 2. Rangifer osborni, a ad., Cassiar Mts., B. C.; Col. A. J. Stone. § nat. size.I52 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI,gray above and below the eye, forming an imperfect eyering; but thisseems exceptional, and is probably a remnant of the summer coat, themajority of the specimens having the eye region dark like the adjoiningparts of the face.Female and Young-of-the-year.-The female does not appear to differmaterially from the male. The young-of-the-year, however, is muchlighter than the adult, having the whole ventral area white, and thewhole neck and the sides much lighter; the dark color of the upperparts is lighter and restricted in area to the middle of the back fromthe shoulders posteriorly; the tail is all white except at the base above.Measurements.-The following are the collector's measurementstaken from the freshly killed specimens before skinning:EXTERNAL MEASUREMENTS.No. 4' No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No 8. No. 9tad. dad. sad. dad. gad. ? juv.Total length ........... 2083 2057 2210 2 I 72 I930 1499Tail ... I52.4 I52.4 I52.4 I52 .4 I77.8 I14.3Heightatshoulder.1I32I I370 I346 I397 1245 99IHind limb to hip ........ I 295 I334 I 245 I359 I I45 965Length of hind foot .. ... 6io 635 635 597 597 522Fore leg to elbow ......... 597 584 6io 646 52 I 432Width of chest.......... 326 326 368 368 3Q5 229Depth of chest .......... 775 787 787 749 7I1 6ioEarafromcrown ... I40 I40 ' ....notch..... .... I I 20 _ ..Skull.-In addition to its large size, the skull of R. montanus is pe-culiar in the unusual elongation of its facial portion. The antlers aresimilar in length and proportions to those of the Barren Ground Car-ibou, but more massive, with the palmated portions much broaderand heavier. (For measurements see p. I53.)Of the six specimens collected by Mr. Stone in the CassiarMountains, four are adult males, one is an adult female, andthe other a young-fo-the-year female. The female and threeof the males agree very closely in coloration; the other male,apparently the oldest of the series, is miiuch paler-coloredthroughout.Collector's numbers. No. 6 = Mus. No. I57I4; No. 8 = Mus. No. I57I5; No. g =Mus. No. 157I6. The original measurements, given in inches, are here reduced tomillimetres.2 Measurements from dry skins, exclusive of hair.1902.] Allen, A New Caribou from the Cassiar MIs., B. C. I 53COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF SKULLS OF Rangifer osborni ANDR. montanus.Basal length............Tip of premaxilla to tipof nasals .............Tip of premaxilla to al-veolus of first premolar.Length of nasals........Greatest orbital breadth..Breadth (above m2).....Zygomatic breadth......Mastoid breadth........Palatal breadth at m ...Depth of skull betweenantlers ...............Length of upper tooth-row (crown surface) ...Diastema (canine to pm')Distance between antlersjust below burr.......Distance between outeredge of antlers just be-low burr..........'Length of mandible, inci-sive border to angle....Angle to condyle........" tip of coronoid..Depth of mandible at mn.Length of lower toothrow.Diastema ...............Antlers, length of mainbeam ........distance apart atpoint of palma-tion ..........distance betweentips ..........distance betweenpoints at tip ofmain beam....R. osborni. R. montanus.157I4 15715 '7971I I7972 I7974 I7973s ad. g ad. s ad. [ ad. 2 ad. ? ad.420I25148I 23I 82I27148'4973I12997278I35330109I4838103I30I 235875790415360IOOI26122156II3136ii6628697595395280I02I373'I03io8405430I 2 II42I42i8o122148I4672IOI1007264I39310"I5'15540105I218ioI46 470393420I20I37I22I72I20'57I476i94IOI7 I75I37310105I44.39110I'S74532045036097''5I29i6oI02'34I206o88966568IOI27095127349999370355IOIII5I07I55io8I31 JI3 1558i936275I0227587I273IIOIIOI290I90 I50-I100 360 270 235 | 300This form of Caribou.differs markedly in color from theWoodland Caribou in being very much darker throughout, in154 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI,its larger size, longer and heavier antlers, and in the large sizeof the white rump patch. This patch, measured across thebase of the tail, has a breadth of 250 mm., but is dividedthrough the middle by the dark band, 50 mm. wide, that{dr.dI'I.ILFig. 3. Rangifer montanus, a ad., No. 17971, Gold Range Mountains, B. C. " nat. size.passes down the tail, the white patch being thus separatedinto two areas, each with a transverse width of IOO mm.The relationship of R. osborni to R. montanus is consideredbelow.In this connection it is due Mr. Madison Grant to state thatJ is A1902.] Allen, A New Caribou from the Cassair MIs., B. C. I 55about a year ago he expressed his conviction to me that theCaribou from the Cassiar Mountains, referred provisionallyJI. IAAFig. 4. Rangifer montanus. Same specimen as Fig. 3.'.a nat. size.to R. montanus, would prove to be different from true R.montanus of the Selkirk Range, and it is through his instiga-tion and valued assistance that the four Selkirk specimensI 56 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI,described below have been obtained for the Museum. Theywere procured through Mr. T. E. Wilson of Banff HotSprings, Alberta.The Cassiar form is named for my colleague, Prof. HenryF. Osborn, Curator of the Department of Vertebrate Palaeon-tology, in recognition of his cordial assistance in obtainingfunds to equip and maintain the Andrew J. Stone Expeditions.Rangifer montanus Seton-Thompson.Rangifer montanus SETON-THOMPSON, Ottawa Naturalist, XIII,No. 5, Aug., I899, I29. Type locality, Selkirk Range, near Revel-stoke, B. C. Type, mounted specimen, Museum Canadian Geologi-cal Survey, Ottawa, Canada.Mr. Seton described the type of Rangifer montanus as fol-lows:" The general colour is a deep umber brown, very glossy, and dark-ening nearly to black on the lower parts of the legs. The neck is dullgreyish white, also the underside, the buttocks, lips and belly. Alongthe ribs on each side is a greyish patch a little lighter than the sur-rounding brown. The white fringe above each hoof is shining whiteand very narrow."ig. 5. Rangzfer montanus, ? ad., No. 17973, Gold Range Mountains, B. C. About J nat. size.The date of capture is given as I889, the month or seasonnot being stated. The specimens now described were killedthe last week in September, and are apparently very muchFi1902.] Allen, A New Caribou from the Cassiar Mts., B. C. I 5 7darker in color than Mr. Seton's description would imply.They may be described as follows:Whole body and legs blackish brown, varying (in different speci-mens) to glossy black over the middle of the dorsal area from shouldersto rump; lighter, more brownish black, on the flanks and ventral sur-IL IV ... i.Fig. 6. Rangifer montanus, $ ad. Same specimen as Fig. ~. About nlat. size.face; inguinal region, sides and under surface of tail, a narrow bandbordering the hoofs, and ventral median line of neck, grayish white;nose and edge of lips grayish white; sides of neck grayish brown; top ofneck and shoulders darker grayish brown varied with blackish and, inthe males, tinged more or less with rusty. The females are much158 Bulletin American MAuseum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI.darker than the males, especially on the neck and shoulders, buthave the grayish white areas of the males replaced by nearly purewhite.Rangifer montanus, in late September pelage, may be de-scribed in general terms as a black Caribou, with the neck andshoulders, especially in the males, much lighter than the bodyand limbs; while R. osborni, in corresponding pelage, is abrown Caribou, with much more white on the rump and pos-terior ventral surface, and the whole neck and shoulders, aswell as the back and limbs, much lighteV than in R. montanus.The specimens of R. smontanus are without measurements,but the species is apparently about the same size as R. osborni,as shown by the measurements of the skull given above.In addition to the marked contrast in color, there are strik-ing differences in the size and form of the antlers in the twoforms, the antlers of R. montanus being of the typical Wood-land Caribou type, and in their relative shortness and muchbranched character recall strongly the antlers of R. terrcenovw,but they are much lighter and more slender than in that spe-cies. They have the same abrupt upward curvature of themain beam, in contrast with the much longer and heavier andmore depressed backward-sweeping main beam seen in R.osborni.The nearest known relative of R. osborni is R. stonei fromthe Kenai Peninsula, which, however, is a differently coloredanimal, with the rostral portion of the skull much shorter andbroader, and other important cranial differences. The antlersalso differ greatly in the two species, the antlers of R. stoneimore resembling those of the Barren Ground and Greenlandspecies.

New caribou from the Cassiar Mts., B.C.

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