558 



CARNIVORA 



moderately curved non-retractile claws. Palms and soles naked. 

 Tail very short. Ears moderate, erect, rounded, hairy. Fur 

 generally long, soft, and shaggy. 



The Bears are all animals of considerable bulk, and include 

 among them the largest members of the order. Though the species 

 are not numerous, they are widely spread over the earth's surface 

 (but absent from the Ethiopian and Australian regions, and only 

 represented by one species in the Neotropical region), and differ 

 much among themselves in their food and manner of life. They 

 are mostly omnivorous or vegetable feeders, and even the Polar 



FIG. 255. Head of the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos). From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 817. 



Bear, usually purely carnivorous or piscivorous, devours grass with 

 avidity in summer. The various species may be arranged in the 

 following groups : 



Thalassarctine Group. Head comparatively small, molar teeth 

 small and narrow. Soles more covered with hair than in the others. 

 This group is represented only by the well-known Polar or White 

 Bear (U. maritimus) of the Arctic regions, which is one of the few 

 mammals which are completely white at all seasons of the year. 



The typical, or Ursine, group includes a number of species, of 

 which the Common Brown Bear (17. arctos) is the best known 

 example. This species is an exceedingly variable one, and has a 

 very wide range in the Palsearctic region ; the Syrian form described 

 as U. syriacus, as well as the Hairy-eared Bear (U. piscator, Fig. 

 255) of North-Eastern Asia, and the Snow-Bear (U. isdbdlinus) of 



