442 BEARS CHAP. 



from living Mustelines by its comparatively long legs. In this 

 genus as in several others there are two upper molars. 



Fam. 8. Ursidae. This family is nearly universal in dis- 

 tribution, and consists of but three genera, Ursus, Melursus, and 

 Aeluropus. 



Ursus has the palms and soles naked except in the Polar 

 Bear, which needs a furry sole to walk with ease upon ice 

 surfaces. The ears are fairly large, and the nose may or may 

 not be traversed by a median groove. 1 The molar formula 2 is 

 Pm ^ M -|. The brain is naturally (because of the size of the 

 animals of this genus) richly convoluted. The lobate kidneys 

 have already been mentioned in defining this family (see p. 426). 



A very large number of species of Bears have been described. 



- 



FIG. 224. Himalayan Bear. Ursiis tibetanus. x T \. 



But it is the opinion of Mr. Lydekker 3 and of others that many 

 of these are really to be referred to the European Brown Bear ; 

 in this event the Grizzly of North America, the Isabelline Bear, 

 the Syrian Bear, a Bear from Algeria, the Kamschatkan and 

 Japanese Bears, besides the extinct Ursus fossilis of Pleistocene 

 caves, are to be regarded as slight modifications of Ursus 

 arctos. On the other hand, the great Cave Bear, U. spelaeus, 



1 Even apparently in the same species. 

 - The number of premolars is reduced in the Polar Bear. 

 "The Blue Bear of Thibet," etc., Proc. Zool Soc. 1897, p. 412. 



