T' i i
2 IN T R O D U C TO R Y REM A RK S .
of specimens presented by him to the Museum at Haslar Hospital. The
specimens of the Mammalia brought home are, as might be expected, fewer
than those of the other classes of animals. Captain Cook mentions, that
during one month’s stay in Nootka Sound, the only quadrupeds seen by his
crews were two or three racoons, martins, and squirrels, though he obtained
the skins of many other species from the natives ; and Kotzebue, who passed
a whole season at the Russian American Company’s settlement of Sitcka, in
Norfolk Sound, obtained specimens only of the black bear, a fox, a stag, the
beaver, two species of bat, and a seal. The skins placed in my hands for
examination by Captain Beechey belong to the arctic fox, common fox, lynx,
land otter, sea otter, musk rat, Parry’s marmot, Beechey’s marmot, Collie’s
squirrel, the polar hare, and a bat—all except the last one obtained on the
west coast of North America. As our knowledge of the Zoology of that coast,
from California northwards, has been derived from expeditions of discovery,
and the details are scattered through a number of works, it appears to us
that the most useful plan we can adopt is, to give a general list of the
Mammalia known to belong to its Fauna, with detailed accounts of the new
species.
M e lv i l le H o s p ita l,
CktUkam, March Dl, 1831.
L I ST OF MAMMALIA
HITHERTO DETECTED IN THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THE RIDGE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
AND THE PACIFIC,
FROM NORTH CALIFORNIA TO THE NORTHERN EXTREMITY OF THE CONTINENT;
W ith references to detailed descriptions in the F a u n a B o r e a l i -A m e r i c a n a .
1 & 2. V e s p e r t i l i o . B a t .
K o tz e b u e fo u n d tw o sm a ll b a ts , w ith sh o rt e a rs , in N o rfo lk S o u n d , la t. 56§® N .
3. S O R E X PA R V U S . S m a l l s h r e w - m o u s e . (Faun. Bor. Am. No. 5.)
K ille d b y M r . C o llie , o n th e sh o re s o f B e h r in g ’s S t r a i t s .
4. S c a l o p s C a n a d e n s i s . S h r e w - m o l e . (F. B. A. No. 6.)
Com m o n o n th e b a n k s o f th e C o lum b ia .
5. C O N D Y L U R A MA CRO U RA . T h IO K -T A IL E D S T A R -N O S E . (F. B. A. No. 83, p . 284.)
B a n k s o f th e C o lum b ia .
6. U r s u s a m e r i c a n u s . A m e r i c a n b l a c k b e a r . (F . B . A. No. 8.)
N o r th e rn C a lifo rn ia , N ew C a le d o n ia , a n d N o rfo lk S o u n d . I t s sk in s a r e e n um e r a te d b y
L a n g sd o rff am o n g those p ro c u r e d b y th e R u s s ia n A m e ric a n C om p a n y a t K o d i a k ; b u t th e a n im a l is
s ta te d b y him n o t to e x is t o n th e is la n d s o f A la sk a . Co o k o b ta in e d m a n y b e a r sk in s o f a sh in in g
b la c k colour on th e is la n d o f N o o tk a .
7. U r s u s a r c t o s , A m e r i c a n u s . B a r r e n - g r o u n d b e a r . (F . B . A. No. 9.)
T h e h romi hear sk ins o f O o n a la sk a , m e n tio n e d by L an g sd o rff, a n d th e brown o r sootp bear skirts
g o t by C o o k in P r in c e W illiam ’s S o u n d , la t. 6 1 ° 11‘ N ., we re p ro b a b ly th e sp o ils o f th is sp e c ie s .
I h a v e n o t sufficient d a ta fo r d e te rm in in g w h e th e r th is A m e ric a n a n im a l o u g h t to b e r a n k e d a s
spe c ific a lly d is tin c t from th e E u ro p e a n U rsus A rcto s , o r m e r e ly c o n s id e r e d a s a lo c a l v a r i e t y ;
h e n c e , to av o id u n n e c e s s a r ily in tro d u c in g a n ew sp e c ific n am e , i t is g iven u n d e r th is a p p e lla tio n .
8. U r s u s F E R O X . G r i s l y b e a r . (F. B . A. No. 10.)
N o r th e rn C a lifo rn ia , a n d u p p e r b r a n c h e s o f th e C o lum b ia .
9. U r s u s m a r i t i m u s . P o l a r o r s e a b e a r . (F . B . A. No. 10 b i s . )
P r in c e W illiam ’s S o u n d , a n d w ith in B e h r in g ’s S tra its .*
• Through a mistake, this animal and the walrus are erroneously stated in the Fauna Boreali-Americana not to
inhabit Behring’s Straits.