DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORDER CARNIVORA 247 



Section IV. — Distribution of the Bear-like 

 Carnivora 



We now come to the third and last division of the 

 terrestrial Carnivora, which consists of those allied to 

 the Bears and therefore denominated Arctoid. This 

 division embraces three families — the Ursidse, or Bears, 

 which have a fairly wide distribution in both Hemi- 

 spheres, the ProcyonidiB, or Raccoons, which, with a 

 single exception, are confined to the New World, and 

 the Mustelidte, or Weasels, which belong mostly to the 

 Old World with a comparatively few representatives in 

 the New World. 



The Bears {Ursidte), which head the group, contain, 

 after the Cats, the largest and most destructive of the 

 carnivorous animals of the present day. There has been 

 a tendency of late days, unnecessarily, as we think, to 

 augment the specific forms of the true Bears (Ursus). 

 The species, recognizable by obvious external characters, 

 do not appear to exceed ten in number. Taken as a 

 whole the genus Ursus presents some very interesting 

 features in its distribution. Its generic area embraces 

 the whole of the Palrearctic and Nearctic Regions and 

 extends into the northern confines of the Oriental. In 

 the Ethiopian Region Ursus is entirely absent, and consti- 

 tutes an important lipomorph. In the Neotropical Region 

 it is represented by a single species, the Spectacled Bear 

 ( U. ornatus) of the Andes. In the extreme north of the 

 globe the Polar Bear (U. maritimus) ranges round the 

 Arctic Circle. The next northern species met with is the 



