3 JO CARMVOKA. 



The Brown Bear, ['rsiis Anfcs ^^Plato XXI 11*. is toimd in t lie old 

 world from Spain to Kanitschatka, and from Lapland to Mount Atlas, 

 and is only absent from Belgium. Denmark. Hngland, Ciermany, and 

 Holland. It requires for its dwelling large unfrequented U>rest lands 

 rich in fruits and berries, for it seldom attacks cattle. Ants are a 

 favorite food ; it scrapes their nests up with its powerful claws, and 

 devours them and their eggs, and, as is well known, it is especially 

 fond of honev : these, however, are but luxuries, its staple food consists 

 of cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, and the like. But when it is 

 unable to find vegetable sustenance, it exhibits a taste for flesh, and will 

 attack sheep and goats, or devour carcasses that fall in its way. When 

 rendered desperate bv the pangs of hunger, it will assail the benighted 

 traveler; even when he seeks to protect himself by a ring of fire, the 

 bear dips himself in the nearest stream, then returns with his thick fin- 

 well saturated with water, and rolls over the burning embers, extinguish- 

 ing them etTectuallv. This curious fact is well known to the natives of 

 Siberia, so that they have good ground for the respect in which they 

 hold the bear's intelligence. 



During the autumn the bear becomes fat. and makes preparations for 

 hibernating. A curious phenomenon now takes place in the animal's 

 digestive organs, which gives it the capability of remaining through the 

 entire winter in a state oi letliargv. without food, and yet without losing 

 condition. As the stomach is no longer supplied witii nourishment, it 

 soon becomes quite emptv. and. together with the intestines, is contracted 

 into a verv small space. , No food can now pass through tiie system, for a 

 mechanical obstruction — technically called the " tappen '" — blocks up the 

 passage, and remains in its position until the spring. The " tappen " is 

 almost entirely composed of pine-leaves, and the various substances which 

 the bear scratches out of the ants" nests. 



It remains in its den till the middle of April, and is said to emerge 

 as fat as when it entered, unless it has lost the " tappen " too soon. 

 During the winter, the bear gains a new skin on the balls o( the feet, and 

 Mr. Lloyd, who has studied their habits carefully, suggests that the 

 curious habit of sucking the paws. \o w IuiIt bears are so iironc. is in 

 order to facilitate the growth of the new integument. 



In old davs. bear-baiting was a favorite amusement ot royalty. 

 Queen Elizabeth was a constant patron of the sport, and in the last cen- 

 tury, Augustus the Strong, the king of Poland, was ardently devoted to 



