THE BEAR. 15 



the Ursus fossilis, which, so far as osteological and 

 dental characters are concerned, would appear to 

 have been the progenitor of the recent Ursus ferox, 

 now repelled to Western North America. In this 

 latter view I am supported by the distinguished 

 palaeontologist, Mr. Busk, F.R.S., whose differentia- 

 tions, as regards several of the Irish crania, were 



RECENT CRANIUM OP BEAR. UNDER SURFACE. ( NAT. SIZE.) 



made before I commenced to study them. It may 

 be said, therefore, that Ursus ferox, as in England, 

 belonged to the prehistoric fauna, and was a native 

 of the island in the days of the Reindeer, Mammoth, 

 Horse, and Wolf, with which its remains have been 

 found associated, as also with exuvia of the Red- 



