2i 8 Hunting the Grisly 



them, perhaps to hydrophobia, a terrible mal- 

 ady from which it is known that they suffer 

 greatly at times. Perhaps the bear is helped 

 by its habit of hibernating, which frees it from 

 most dangers during winter; but this can not 

 be the complete explanation, for in the South 

 it does not hibernate, and yet holds its own 

 as well as in the North. What makes it all 

 the more curious that the American wolf 

 should disappear sooner than the bear is that 

 the reverse is the case with the allied species 

 of Europe, where the bear is much sooner 

 killed out of the land. 



Indeed the differences of this sort between 

 nearly related animals are literally inexpli- 

 cable. Much of the difference in tempera- 

 ment between such closely allied species as 

 the American and European bears and wolves 

 is doubtless due to their surroundings and to 

 the instincts they have inherited through many 

 generations; but for much of the variation it 

 is not possible to offer any explanation. In 

 the same way there are certain physical dif- 

 ferences for which it is very hard to account, 

 as the same conditions seem to operate in 

 directly reverse ways with different animals. 

 No one can explain the process of natural 

 selection which has resulted in the otter of 



