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 or less profound, and without food. 



It is in these retreats that the female brings forth. 



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 col- 

 lar, 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 Asia; the 

 coupling season is in June, and the young are produced in Janua- 

 ry. It sometimes lodges very high up in trees j 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.(l) 



U. americanus, Gm. ; Fr. Cuv. Mammif. ; Schreb. pi. 141, B. 

 (The North American Black Bear.) A very distinct species, 

 with a flat 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) We are notyet satisfied that the Grisly Bear of North America differs speci- 

 fically 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 lloi. In form and hair, some shades of 

 colouring excepted, it closely resembles the Brown Bear; its nails, however, are 

 much longer and more trenchant. It appears to be a distinct species. 



M. Horsfield, Lin. Trans., XV, 332, describes a Bear from Nepaul, of a light 

 bay colour, wlvose nails are less trenchant tlian those of the other Bears of India, 

 and which appears to him a distinct species. 



I have neglected stating in tlie text that we have i-ecovered many fossil bones of 

 lost species of 15ears, the most remarkable of which are the U. spclieus, Blumenb., 

 with a rounded forehead, and of a very large size ; and Uie U. cuUrukns, Cuv. See 

 thefourth vol. of mv " Ossemens Fossiles." 



