p. 233-238 : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes 1 bibliographical reference (p. 233)

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

Andrews Alaskan Expedition (1908)

Andrews, Roy Chapman, 1884-1960.

Kermode, Francis, 1874-

American Museum of Natural History Scientific Publications

59.9,74U(71 .1)Article XVI.- THE WHITE BEAR OF SOUTHWESTERNBRITISH COLUMBIA.BY J. A. ALLEN.The Museum has recently secured two fine specimens of the InlandWhite Bear (Ursus kermodei Hornaday),' taken on Gribbel Island, B. C.,the type locality of the species. They were killed between October 1 and 10,1908, and are thus in excellent fall pelage. One is an old female, as unmis-takably shown by the skin, with an imperfect skull, only the rostral portion,with the dentition, being preserved. The other is somewhat younger,though fully adult, and is apparently a male; the skull is nearly complete,lacking only part of the left zygomatic arch.These specimens were obtained through the courtesy of Mr. F. Kermode,Curator of the Provincial Museum, Victoria, B. C., who has also kindlytransmitted to the Museum, through Mr. Roy C. Andrews, Assistant inMammalogy, a list of all the specimens of this bear known to him to havebeen captured during the last ten years, together with a map marked toshow the localities of capture. He has also sent for examination the veryimperfect skull of the type specimen, another complete skull, and the rostralportion of another. For these important favors grateful acknowledgmentsare hereby tendered.These specimens differ considerably in color from the type of the species,which was described as "clear, creamy white, with no trace of brown, blackor any other dark color," both having the whole top of the head yellowishrufous, with the back, in one of the specimens, conspicuously varied withbands and irregular patches of bright golden rufous. These specimensmay be described as follows:No. 34492, an old female. Whole top and sides of the head, from the frontborder of the eyes posteriorly, dark orange buff, the color where deepest extendingto the roots of the pelage. The color of the top of the head extends along the napeto the shoulders as a fairly well defined median stripe, narrowing and fading pos-teriorly, and gradually blending with the general strongly yellowish white of thebody. Over the mid-dorsal area the superficial yellowish white color deepens belowthe surface to orange buff and extends nearly to the roots of the hair. The vaginaltuft is bright yellowish rufous, of nearly the same shade as the top of the head.Limbs more strongly tinted than the body.No. 34993, adult (probably male). In this the head is brighter and more ru-1 Ninth Ann. Rep. New York Zool. Soc. (for 1904), pp. 81-86, with 2 half-tone pll. Pub-lished January, 1905.233234 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXVI,fous than in the other; the median band from the occiput extends to the middleof the back, darkening over and just behind the shoulders to deep rufous, in somelights almost chestnut rufous, and thence continues, but less distinctly defined,as far as the loins, lightening in tint to yellowish orange. There are also ill-definedlongitudinal bands of yellowish orange on the sides of the body, which deepen inFig. 1. Ursus kermodet, No. 34993, 6 (?), Gribbel Island, British Columbia, October, 1908.places to orange, forming a number of irregular patches. These markings arerather more distinct on the left side, where there are two of these lateral bands,than on"the right. The general tendency of these bands is to form a pattern com-posed of three longitudinal stripes, the outer one on the right rather broad and notwell defined, and on the left divided into two. (Fig. 1.)x':1I. INI-..7mw1.11.I -.1..'71,71,. ,.-'t._-4-JW17,Allen, White Bear of British Columbia.The color of these specimens is hard to describe, as it varies with the angleof reflection of the light. For this reason when the skin of the female isplaced crosswise to the light, the further half of the skin, in which the hairslopes from the light, looks creamy white, while the side toward the light,with the hairs directed toward it, is deep buff, a darker median space separat-ing the two sides. When placed lengthwise, with the head towards thelight and the hairs laid smooth, the whole dorsal surface, from the headposteriorly, is uniform deep creamy white, without any color pattern. Whenthe male skin is placed crosswise to the light the ground color is nearly purewhite, with the color pattern perfectly distinct, as it is also when the skin isplaced lengthwise or crosswise to the light. With the head from the light,and looking at the skin from the side, the median line over the anterior halfof the body is darker and richer, appearing dark orange rufous. Seen fromin front looking towards the light the general color is much lighter but themarkings remain perfectly distinct.' Where the markings are well developedthe rufous color always extends to the base of the pelage.In the male there is a very small tuft of blackish-tipped hairs on themedian line behind the shoulders.Ursus kermodei has always been described as clear creamy white to theroots of the hair. In the present specimens the color of the head is dis-tinctly different from that of the body, and the basal portion of the pelageon the body is strongly suffused with buff, ranging in tint from pale buff toorange buff, and on some parts to orange rufous. The type and the otherspecimens in the mounted group in the Provincial Museum, Victoria, weretaken in May; the present specimens, in October. It is, perhaps, reason-able to suppose that the buffy suffusion so conspicuous in October speci-mens may become somewhat faded later in the season; but the rich rufoustint of the head could hardly thus disappear.So far as the pelage is concerned, these skins might readily be looked uponas albinistic examples of a normally dark-colored bear. The skull, how-ever, presents distinctive characters of some importance, warranting therecognition, for the present at least, of Ursus kermnodei as a strongly markedform, and possibly as a 'good species.'The skull of the type was very imperfect (cf. Hornaday, 1. c.), consistingof only a part of the rostrum and front part of the lower jaw, showing thedentition but not the general form of the skull. The teeth, as stated by Dr.Hornaday, "indicate relationship to the American Black Bear." In fact,the five specimens before me showing the dentition, present no tangibledifferences in the teeth from the Black Bear of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska,1 In taking the photograph shown in Fig. 1, the light was equalized from both sides.1909.] 235236 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXVI,Fig. 2. Ursus kermodei, No. 34993, c' (?), Gribbel Island, British Columbia. X nat. size.Fig. 3. Ursus kermodei, 9. Gribbel Island, B. C. (Specimen in Provincial Museum, Victoria,B. C.) 4 nat. size.Fig. 4. Ursus americanus, No. 16707, 9, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. 4 nat. size.Alln, White Bear of British Columbia. 2either in size or form. There is, however, a striking difference in the dorsaloutline of the skull, which in Alaska specimens is nearly flat, but stronglyconvex in U. kermodei, the point of greatest height being at or slightly infront of the fronto-parietal suture, as shown in the accompanying illustra-tions (Figs. 2-4). The size of the skull in specimens from Alaska andGribbel Island, strictly comparable as to age and sex, is nearly the same inboth series, as shown in the subjoined table of measurements. So far aspresent material is available, U. kermodei is slightly smaller than theAlaska Black Bear, with a relatively narrower and longer skull, longer andnarrower nasals, with the dorsal outline of the skull notably more convex.It differs from U. carlottce in much smaller size, and in important cranialcharacters.Measurements of Skulls.Total length . .Condylobasal lengthPalatal lengthZygomatic breadth .Interorbital breadthAcross postorbital processes.Mastoid breadthPalatal breadth atml.Length of upper tooth row (including ca-nine).Length of p4-m2Length of last molarGreatest breadth of last molar at cingulumLength of lower jaw (front border to condyle)Height, angle to top of coronoid . . . .Length of lower toothrow (including canine)P4 tom.Length of m2 .Greatest width of m2U. kermodei. U. americanus.349932 349923 177895 1670869' J? 9 9 6'-243 240 - 250 245 250214 223 - 220 250 213121 133 - 123 125 12613453751003687522513.5167649951.51710135567911339915425151747210461191197522513.21075517.51114561841134092512513.5173691045817115479359657271517269104601912143517310838904923.313162611025617.511.4The known range of Ursus kermodei, as shown from the informationkindly furnished by Mr. Kermode, extends from the lower part of SouthBentinck Arm, Bella Coola River (lat. 520), north to Nass Bay, at the headof Portland Inlet (lat. 550), and from Aristazable, Princess Royal, Gribbel,and Pitt Islands, on the coast, to a considerable distance into the interior.Mr. Kermode's records are as follows:I Gribbel Isl.. Provincial Museum, Victoria, B. C., 9.2 Gribbel Isl., Amer. Mus. No. 34993, d (?).3 Gribbel Isl., Amer. Mus. No. 34992, 9.4 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Amer. Mus. No. 16707, 9.6 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Amer. Mus. No. 17789, CdT.6 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Amer. Mus. No. 16708, sex ?.1909.] 37Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXVI."Lindley and Foster of this city [Victoria] had two specimens in 1898 or 1899from Gribbel Island; they were sold to some parties in England."Dr. W. T. Hornaday, of New York, bought one specimen from Boskowitz,a fur dealer in this city, in 1900, said to have come from Nass River.The type specimen, female, Provincial Museum, was killed on Gribbel Islandin May, 1904."Two young cubs, male and female, in Provincial Museum, were killed at Ka-noon River, Princess Royal Island, May, 1904."Another specimen, young male, Provincial Museum, was killed on GribbelIsland, May, 1906."Another specimen, Provincial Museum, killed on Gribbel Island, 27th May,1907."The Rev. T. Collinson, of this city, also has one, that I have seen, said tohave been killed on the Nass River about 1904."Mr. James Findley, of Vancouver, has another, that I have seen at his home,killed near his mine on Princess Royal Island, June, 1903."The two specimens recently sent by Mr. Lindley, of this city, to the AmericanMuseum of Natural History, New York, were killed on Gribbel Island betweenthe 1st and 10th of October, 1908, as I had a letter from C. A. Robinson, HartleyBay, on October 10, informing me of two that he had in his possession that hadjust been killed on Gribbel Island.""There is still another specimen, not in fit condition for mounting, in the pos-session of Mr. Lindley, that was killed in the summer of 1908 .... up the coast,and must have been killed at this same locality ...."In June, 1908, two friends of mine, P. Jacobson of Bella Coola, and C. A.Fields of this city, who were out timber cruising on South Bentinck Arm, saw oneof these bears and were only thirty yards from it. I have seen both of them per-sonally and both give the same account of it, so I believe it to be true."I have also heard from Dr. Holland, of the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh,that they have one in their Museum at the present time ...."The late Robert Cunningham, a trader in furs, and who kept a large storeat Port Essington for a great many years, told me that he had one or two of thewhite bears every year."Mr. George Robinson, missionary at Kitimat, who has lived in that vicinityfor between sixteen and seventeen years, and traded with the Indians, says alsothat he has had some of these bears nearly every year. Mr. Robinson when in thiscity about two weeks ago [about Jan. 6, 1909,] left word that he has another in hispossession killed this last fall."Mr. Kermode refers further to two white bears seen last November on PittIsland, and to two others killed in the mountains of Khutze Inlet in the fall of1904; also to one killed on Swindle Island in 1902.It is of interest to add that Mr. Kermode, in reply to inquiries as to thepresence of other bears within the range of U. kermodei, states: " On theislands where the White Bear is found, Black Bears are also fairly com-mon," and that "on the mainland Grizzly, Black, and the brown phase[of the Black] are found at the same localities as the white ones."238

White bear of British Columbia

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