THE CARNIVORA 377 



and horny as in other bears. The seals are undoubtedly its 

 chief source of food, but it will also gladly feast upon whale when 

 it gets a chance. It is one of the few mammals which extend 

 right round the Pole, and is, of course, a purely Arctic animal. 



The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is a familiar object in most 

 collections of wild animals, either in zoological gardens or travel- 

 ling shows. In Roman and pre-Roman times it was found in 

 Britain. It has a wide distribution, being found in many parts 

 of Europe, in Siberia, Kamtschatka, Japan, and parts of the Arctic 

 regions of North America. It is about six feet long, and from 

 about three to four feet high at the shoulder. The fur is longish, 

 rather woolly, and of a dark-brown hue. It lives a solitary life, 

 and, like many of its kin, hibernates during the winter months. 

 It is the opinion of Lydekker and other well-known zoologists that 

 a very large proportion of the many species of Bears which have 

 been from time to time described are really to be regarded as 

 slight modifications or varieties of the Common European Brown 

 Bear (Ursus arctos) ; and if this theory be accepted, then the 

 Syrian Bear, the Isabelline, the Algerian, the Grizzly of North 

 America, the Japanese, and the Kamtschatkan Bears must be 

 considered as merely varieties. The Malayan Sun Bear (Ursus 

 malayanus), the Tibetan Blue Bear (U. pruinosus), the Peruvian 

 Spectacled Bear (U.'ornatus), and the Sloth Bear (U. labiatus) of 

 India and Ceylon, are distinct species. 



The Cynoidea, or dog-like animals, form the most compact 

 of the three divisions of the split-footed Carnivores. Only four 

 genera are contained in the group, namely the Dogs, Wolves, 

 and Foxes (Canis), the Long-Eared Fox (Megalotis), the Racoon- 

 Dog (Nycterentes), and the curious hyena-like Lycaon. The dogs 

 form a sort of connecting link between the cat-like species of 

 Carnivores on the one hand, and the bear-like group on the other. 

 In the matter of being digitigrade 1 they agree with the cats ; 

 the number of their teeth agrees with that of the bears ; in the 

 character of the skull they come just half-way between the two. 

 The numerous members of the genus Canis can, according to 

 Professor Huxley, be divided by certain cranial characters into 

 two series : the fox-like, or " Alopecoid," and the wolf-like, or 

 "Thooid"- the Lycaon being distinctly " Thooid." Taking this 



1 Digitigrade walking on the toes. 



