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Show 94 MAMMALIA. short tail: the cartilage of the nose is elongated and movable. They excavate dens or construct huts, in which they pass the winter in a state of somnolency more Ol' less profound, and without food. It is in these retreats that the female brings {orth. The species are not easily distinguished by apparent characters. We have the .. U. arctos, L., Buff. VIII, xxxi. (The Brown Bear of Eu. rope.) Forehead convex; fur brown, more or less woolly when young, and growing smoother with age. Some of them are greyish, others almost yellow, and a third kind is brown, with shades bordering on silver. The relative height of their legs is equally variable, and all without any fixed relation to age or sex. They have most commonly, when young, a whitish collar, which, in some varieties, remains for a longer or shorter period, and even for life. This animal inhabits the lofty moun- . tains, and great forests of Europe, and of a great part of ~sia; the coupling season is in June, and the young are produced m January. It sometimes lodges very high up in trees; when young its flesh is esteemed a delicacy-the feet are considered good at all ages. It is thought that the Black Bear of Europe is a distinct spe· cies : those which have been described as such had a flat fore· head, and the fur woolly and blackish; their origin, however, does not appear to us to be very authentic.(!) U. americanus, Om.; Fr. Cuv. Mammif.; Schreb. pl. 141~ B. (The North American Black Bear.) A very distinct species, with a fiat forehead, smooth and black fur, and fawn-coloured muzzle. We have always found the small teeth behind the canini more numerous in this Bear than in the European spe· cies. Individuals have been seen that were entirely fawn-co· loured. Its usual food is wild fruits; it devastates the fields, (1) Weare not yet satisfied that the Gdsly Bear ofNorth America differs speci· ficlilly from the Brown Bear of Europe. P .S. Since the above note was written, General La Fayette has presented a Grisly Bear to the Menagerie du Jardin du Roi. In form and hair, some shades of colouring excepted, it closely resembles the Brown Bear; its nails, however, are much l6nger and more trenchant. It appears to be a distinct species. M. Horsfield, Lin. Trans., XV, 332, desct·ibes a Bear fl'om Nepaul, of a light bay colour, whose nails are less trenchant than those of the other Bears of India, and which appears to him a distinct species. I have neglected stating in the text that we have recovered many fossil bones of lost species of Hears, the most remarkable of which are the U. spelmus, Blumenb., with a rotmded forehead, and ofa very large size ; and the U. cultridem, Cuv. See thefourth vol. of my "Ossemens Fossiles." CARNARIA. 95 and, where fish is abundant, proceeds to the shores for th purpose of catching it. It is only for want of other alimen~ that it .a ttacks quadrupeds. The flesh is held in great e ste em. There Is another Black Bear found in the Cordilleras, with a white t?roat and muzzle, and large fawn-coloured eye-brows, that umte o~ the forehead-U. ornatua, Fr. Cuv. Mammif. The East Indies also produce several Bears of a black colour such as the ' U. malaianu8, Horsf. Java. (The Malay Bear.) Smooth. black; fawn-coloured muzzle; a heart-shaped spot of the sam; colour o~ the breast. From the Peninsula beyond the Ganges and the Islands of the straits of .Sunda. It is very injurious to the cocoa nut trees, which it climbs in order to devour their t and drink the milk of the fruit. ops U. thibet~nua, Fr. Cuv. Mammif. (The Thibet Bear.) Black; the under hp and a large mark in the form of a y on the breast w?ite.; profile straighter and claws weaker. From the mountams m the north of India. The ~ost remarkable however of these Bears of India is the U. la~~atu~, Bl~in.; L'Ours jongleur, Fred. Cuv. Mammif.; U.long,roatn~, Tted. (T.he Thick-lipped Bear.) The cartilage . ?r the nose dtlated; the tip of the under lip elongated, both bemg movable; when old, very thick, bushy hairs round the ~ead. The incisors being easily lost, occasioned it for a long time .to be considered as a Sloth.( 1) It is black; the muzzle a~d ttps .of the paws fawn-coloured or whitish, and a half collar or. spot. m the form of a Y under the neck and breast. This ammal.Is a favourite with the Indian jugglers on account of its deformity. U. maritimus, L.; Cuv. Menag. du .Mus., avo p. 68 ·copied Schre~. ¥1. c~li. (The Polar Bear.) This is ;nothe/ species: very dtstmguishable by its long and flattened head and its white and smooth fur. It pursues Seals and other marine animals. Exaggerated accounts of its ferocity have rendered it highly celebrated. PRocvoN, Storr. The Rae h h . coons ave three back tuberculous molars, the superior of ~w lc•h are nearl Y square, an d t h ree pom· ted false molars in front 1ormmg a cont·m uous sen.e s to the canines, which are straight and' (1) It is the B d · Jour d ra ypus urMnua of Shaw, and the genus Pnocauus, Illig. See ' e Phys. of 1792, vol. xl, p. 136. , |