2 CARNIVORES. 



generally divided internally by a larger or smaller bony partition, in the bears 

 (as well as in the following families of the raccoons and weasels), this bulla is 

 depressed and flattened, and has no trace of an internal partition ; and its mouth, 

 leading to the external ear, is produced much further outwards. There are 

 also other characters connected with the skull which help to distinguish the bears 

 and the members of the next two families from the Carnivores hitherto described, 

 but the bulla alone is sufficient to determine at a glance to which of the two groups 

 any given skull may belong, and the reader will accordingly perceive how import- 

 ant is this apparently insignificant feature. The degree of inflation of the bulla 

 of the skull is doubtless associated with the acuteness of hearing ; the Carnivores 

 with the longest ears, like the African fennec, having larger bullas than their nearest 



SKELETON OF BEAR. 



relatives. Bears are notoriously deficient in the sense of hearing ; and it is probable 

 that raccoons and weasels are also less acute in this respect than cats, civets, and 

 dogs. Although many of the Carnivores with inflated bulla? have, like the cats, com- 

 paratively small ears, it is noteworthy that no bear, raccoon, or weasel has these 

 organs of very large dimensions, while in some instances they are almost absent. 



The members of the bear family are characterised by their heavy and massive 

 build, their thick limbs, extremely short tails, and the presence of five toes, 

 armed with powerful claws, on both the fore and hind -feet. Moreover, when 

 walking, the whole sole of the foot is applied to the ground, in the old-fashioned 

 plantigrade manner, so that the impression of a bear's foot presents a considerable 

 superficial resemblance to that of a man. The claws of the feet are incapable 

 of being retracted, and are well adapted for digging, although no members of 

 the family are in the habit of constructing burrows for themselves after the 

 manner of foxes. In most bears the under surface of the sole of the foot is 



