FAMILY URSID^E ; BEARS. 227 



rior size and strength ; and having more of the lengthened head 

 and pointed muzzle of the latter. There are five toes on the 

 hind-feet, but only four on the fore-feet. The dentition presents 

 a remarkable anomaly ; there are but three small false molars 

 above, and one small tuberculous molar; and but three false 

 molars below, no vestige of the carnivorous tooth presenting 

 itself. The canines, however, are of considerable size. This 

 animal is very destructive to the young lambs ; and is said to 

 attack the massive fatty protuberance on the tails of the African 

 sheep. 



199. The animals of the family URSIDJE are, of all the Car- 

 nivora, those which are most omnivorous in their diet, some of 

 them living almost entirely upon vegetable food, and nearly 

 all being capable of supporting themselves upon it. Most of 

 them are expert climbers ; they conceal themselves in caves, in 

 holes of the earth, and in hollow trees ; and in such retreats they 

 usually pass the winter in a state bordering on torpidity, and 

 there the female brings forth her young. The characters of the 

 family are most strongly marked in the animals of the genus 

 Ursus or Bear ; which are distinguished by their ponderous 

 bulk, massive limbs, and heavy gait. They are completely plan- 

 tigrade in their walk, and can rear themselves without difficulty 

 on their hind-legs. They have large claws, which are adapted 

 for digging, and which are powerful weapons of attack and de- 

 fence ; these are not retractile. Bears are for the most part un- 

 social animals, frequenting the recesses of mountains and caverns, 

 and the depths of the forests. They are expert climbers, ascend- 

 ing trees and rocks with great dexterity. The food of the dif- 

 ferent species varies in some degree ; being almost exclusively 

 vegetable in some species, such as the American Black Bear, which 

 will not touch animal flesh, if vegetable aliment can be obtained ; 

 whilst it is almost as exclusively animal in others, such as the 

 Polar Bear. Even the most carnivorous of them, however, will 

 seldom attack Man, unless provoked to do so by aggression, or 

 strongly incited by hunger ; but when attacked, they become 

 very formidable opponents, displaying greater activity and address 

 than might be expected from their heavy clumsy figures. 



