306 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTOBY. [Book VIII. 



prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper 

 shape. There is nothing more uncommon than to see a she- 

 bear in the act of parturition. 72 The male remains in his 

 retreat for forty days, the female four months. If they 

 happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches 

 and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is 

 lined with soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are 

 overcome by so deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused by 

 wounds even. They become wonderfully fat, too, while in this 

 lethargic state. This fat is much used in medicine ; and it is 

 very useful in preventing the hair from falling off. 73 At the end 

 of these fourteen days they sit up, and find nourishment by 

 sucking their fore-paws. 74 They warm their cubs, when cold, 

 by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which 

 birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but 

 Theophrastus believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the 

 bear, the animal being killed in its dormant state, it will in- 

 crease in bulk, even though it may have been cooked. 75 During 

 this period no signs of food are to be found in the stomach 

 of the animal, and only a very slight quantity of liquid ; there 

 are a few drops of blood only near the heart, but none what- 

 ever in any other part of the body. 76 They leave their retreat 

 in the spring, the males being remarkably fat : of this cir- 

 cumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory explana- 

 tion, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk, 

 lasts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days. 77 When 

 they come out, they eat a certain plant, which is known as 



their limbs are ill formed, which is correct ; but the account here given is 

 greatly exaggerated. B. 



7 2 As the birth takes place when the mother is in her winter retreat, it 

 can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie. B. 



73 This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46 ; this property of the fat of the 

 bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it still retains its 

 place among our popular remedies ; but it is difficult to conceive that it can 

 have any virtue above other fatty substances of the same consistence. B. 



74 This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by Aristotle, 

 Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17 ; by ^Elian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3 ; and by Op- 

 pian, Halieut. B. ii. B. 



75 We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab. 

 Auscult. p 1155. B. 



76 Probably from Aristotle, ubi supra. B. 



77 This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by sup- 

 posing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in their winter 

 retreats, which they consume while they remain without exercise. B. 



