BROWN BEAR AND WHITE BEAR. OPOSSUM. 85 



and abstinence from food. Vulgar error has propagated 

 the idea, that they suck their paws for nourishment, during 

 this period of seclusion ; but they are undoubtedly sus- 

 tained by means of the former exuberance of their fat. 



THE BROWN BEAR OF THE ALPS. 



This differs little from the former, except in size and 

 - colour. It is not only solitary, but savage ; and though 

 we sometimes see it led about by a keeper, and practising 

 some arts, which it has been taught by a kind of barbarous 

 ingenuity, it is naturally capricious, revengeful, and treach- 

 erous, and therefore should not be trusted without great 

 caution. 



THE WHITE, OR GREENLAND BEAR. 



This species has a peculiarly long head and neck, and 

 its limbs are of prodigious size and strength. Its body 

 frequently measures thirteen feet in length ; and it is the 

 only animal that arrives at a superior magnitude in the 

 arctic regions, where it seems to reign without a rival. 



The white bear lives on fish, seals, and the dead bodies 

 of whales ; or even on the corpses of men, which it digs 

 out of the ground. Sometimes it will attack a party of 

 armed men, and even board small vessels. The mutual 

 affection that subsists between the female and her young, 

 has been frequently exemplified in the most affecting trials : 

 they will rather die than desert each other. 



The flesh of this animal is white, and tastes like mutton. 

 Its fat is melted for train oil, and that extracted from the 

 feet is used in medicine. A kind of bath was made for 

 one formerly in the Tower of London, so situated below 

 its den, that the creature could plunge into it at pleasure : 

 indeed the white bear can scarcely exist in our temperate 

 climate, without being frequently cooled by water. 



THE OPOSSUM. 



There are several species of this genus, to which Lin- 

 naeus gives tiie name of didelphis ; all distinguished from 



