“We are compelled to do so, by the very nature of our contract. Having procured the skins of ursus ornatus and another variety we shall find in the Andes, we can then travel almost due north. On the Mississippi we shall be able to pick up a skin of the American black bear (ursus americanus), and by the help of the Hudson’s Bay voyageurs we shall reach the shores of the great gulf in which that territory takes its name. There the ‘polar bear’ (ursus maritimus) can be found. Farther westward and northward we may hope to capture the ‘barren ground bear,’ which the English traveller Sir John Richardson thinks is only a variety of our European brown bear, but which papa—and good reasons he has—believes to be nothing of the kind. Crossing the Rocky Mountains, we shall be able, I hope, to knock over the famed and formidable grizzly (ursus ferox), and in Oregon, or British Columbia, we shall strip his hide from the ‘cinnamon bear’ (ursus cinnamonus), believed to be a variety of the American black. That will finish with the bears of America.”
“Asia next, I suppose?”
“Yes, straight across to Kamschatka. There we shall meet with the ‘Siberian,’ or ‘collared bear’ (ursus collaris). Of these, two varieties are said to exist, one of which, specified by the name ursus sibiricus, is also found in Lapland and Siberia.”
“Go on, brother! Where next?”
“From Kamschatka we shall make a long traverse to the south-west. Our best hunting-ground will be Borneo.”
“Ah! the beautiful little bear with the orange-coloured breast!”
“Yes; that is the ‘Bornean bear’ (ursus euryspilus), or ‘Bruang,’ as he is called by the Malays.”
“But there is another Bruang?”
“Yes—the ‘Malayan sun-bear’ (ursus malagenus). This we shall encounter in Sumatra or Java, whichever we choose to visit.”
“Well, the list is much larger than I expected; certainly it has been wonderfully lengthened since the days of the good old Linnaeus.”