posed largely of juices which are quickly absorbed, 

 the digestive process is very brief and the dis- 

 carded residue is discharged at once. This may give 

 rise to the belief that a purgative has been em- 

 ployed as a means of cleansing the bowels and 

 explains the presence of unbroken berries in the 

 excrement and the absence of offensive odors. As 

 a means of exploding the purgative theory we need 

 only refer to bears in captivity. Although the latter 

 may be confined to cement floors and have no ac- 

 cess to any matter whatever, other than the food 

 regularly supplied, they frequently hibernate in a 

 quite orderly manner. 



"It must be conceded that bears are irregular in 

 the period of 'holing up' and that they do so only 

 when food has become too scarce to sustain activi- 

 ties without a drain upon the store of fat they have 

 acquired; or during very severe weather. In the 

 mean time there has been a gradual reduction in 

 food as the period of hibernation approaches and a 

 consequent lessened activity of the bowels. Nor is 

 there reason for surprise because of the absence of 

 excrement in the burrow and the presence of mat- 

 ter in the rectum when the bear emerges in the 

 spring. 



97 



