Even in the Old World there are many distinct races of the brown bear. In Syria, for instance, we have a greyish race (_U. arctus syriacus_); while in Kashmir the coat is very generally deep cream-colour, although it tends to darken in old individuals of this race, which is known as _U. a. isabellinus_. From the British Isles the bear has long since been exterminated, but it survives in the wilder parts of Spain, France, Germany, and Hungary, while it is still comparatively common in many parts of Scandinavia and Russia, whence it extends right across Asia north of the southern flank of the Himalaya to Kamchatka and Japan; its southern limit to the east of the Himalaya being marked by the Siamese race (_U. a. shanorum_). Central Asian brown bears, of which the local races are not yet properly determined, generally have light-coloured coats, with a white gorget, which is wanting in Scandinavian and Russian bears. The largest Old World race is the Kamchadale brown bear (_U. a. piscator_ or _lasiotis_), of which skins may measure as much as 9 feet in length. On the opposite side of Bering Strait Alaska vies with Kamchatka in claiming the record in point of size among brown bears, while in the matter of local variation the representatives of the species put the rest of the world into the shade, for American naturalists recognise no fewer than half a dozen different races in Alaska alone. These include the huge Kodiak bear (_U. a. middendorffi_) of Kodiak Island, the Alaskan Peninsula bear (_U. a. gyas_), the gigantic Yakutat bear (_U. a. dalli_) from the neighbourhood of Yakutat Bay and the coast for an undetermined distance north and south, the Sitka bear (_U. a. sitkensis_) of Sitka and Baranoff Islands, the Admiralty bear (_U. a. eulophus_) of Admiralty Island, and Kidder’s bear (_U. a. kidderi_) of the Alaskan Peninsula. All these are, however, so similar to one another, that it requires an expert to distinguish them. [Illustration] The grisly bear (_U. horribilis_) is, however, a distinct species, characterised, among other features, by its white claws. Typically a native of the high forests of the Rocky Mountains, the grisly is represented by two Alaskan races, namely, _U. h. phæonyx_ of the interior, and _U. h. kenaiensis_ of the Kenai Peninsula and adjacent coasts. It perhaps reappears in the Tian Shan range, in the heart of central Asia, in the shape of the so-called _U. leuconyx_.