European Brown Bear 



91 



and powerful, the upper ciirnassial (the third tooth from behind) having 

 a well-developed tubercle on the inner side, while the last upper molar 

 has a very large posterior heel. 



As regards the characters by which the brown bear and its varieties are 

 distinguished from the American black bear, the most important of these 

 are connected with the skull, since, so 

 far as colour is concerned, there is an 

 almost complete transition from the one 

 type to the other. Among these dental 

 characters, perhaps the most important 

 are those afforded by the last premolar 

 tooth ot the lower jaw, that is to sav, 

 the lourth tooth from the hinder end 

 of the series. This tooth, which is 

 relatively large in the brown bear, 

 always carries two distinct tubercles 

 on its inner side. The tooth immedi- 

 ately behind the one just mentioned, 

 that is to say, the lower carnassial, also 

 affords important points of distinction, 

 being larger and of more complicated 

 structure in the brown than in the 

 black American species. 



Externally the brown bear, of 

 which some of the races attain an 

 enormous size, is characterised by the shagginess and length of the coat, 

 the relatively long front claws, and the large size of the hind feet. In 

 Europe and Asia the colour of the fur shows very great local and individual 

 variation, some skins being very dark brown, with or without a white 

 gorget on the chest ; in the Kashmir or Himalayan variety the tint is pale 



Fig. 23. — Palatal View of the Skull or'the Yczo 

 Brown Bear, to show the Characters of 

 the Dentition. (From Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 1897.) 



