Order 3. 



CAENARIA. 



71 



and nocturnal life of the Insectivora, and, like them, have no ccecum : most of those which 

 inhabit cold countries pass the winter in a state of lethargy. All have five toes to each foot. 



The Bears {Urtus, Lin.) — 



Possess three large molars on each side of both jaws*, altogether tuberculous, and of which the poste- 

 rior above are the most extended. These are preceded by a tooth a little more trenchant, which is the 

 carnivorous tooth of this genus f, and by a variable number of very small false molars, which sometimes 

 fall at an early age. This system of dentition, almost frugivorous, explains why, notwithstanding their 

 great strength, the animals of this genus devour flesh only from necessity. 



They are large stout-bodied animals, with thick limbs, and tail extremely short : the cartilage of their 

 nose is elongated and moveable. They excavate dens and construct huts [?], where they pass the 

 winter in a state of somnolency more or less profound, and without taking food. It is in these retreats 

 that the female brings forth. 



The species are not easily distinguished by obvious characters. 



The Brown Bear(L\ arctos, Lin.) of Eiu-ope, has the forehead convex : fur, brown, more or less woolly when 

 young, becoming smoother with age. It varies, however, considerably in colour, and also in the relative propor- 

 tion of parts: the young have generally a pale collar, which in some is permanent. This animal inhabits the 

 high mountains and extensive forests of Europe, together with a great part of Asia. [The Barren-ground Bear of 



North America appears to be undistinguishable.] 

 It couples in June, and brings forth in January ; 

 nestles sometimes very high up in trees ; its flesh 

 is good eating when young, and the paws are much 

 esteemed at all ages. [The Black Bear of Europe 

 is now generally regarded as a mere variety.] 



The Black Bear (U. amerieanug, Gm.) of North 

 America, is a species well distinguished, with a 

 flat forehead, smooth and black fur, and fulvous 

 muzzle. We have always found the small teeth 

 behind its canines to be more numerous than in 

 the Bear of Europe. It lives chiefly on wild fruits, 

 and where fish is abundant sometimes frequents 

 the shores for the purpose of catching it ; resorts 

 to flesh only in default of other food, [and is then 

 destructive to Pigs ; is a great devourer of honey, 

 in common with most others of the genus] : its 

 flesh is highly esteemed. There is another Black 

 Bear found in the Cordilleras, with white throat 

 Fig. :4.-The Black Bear. gj^^j my^jje, and large fulvous eye-brows {U. or- 



natus, F. Cuv.), [considered by many to be a variety of V. americanus. The Jardin des Plantes, however, has lately 

 received a Bear from the Peruvian Andes, which appears ver>' distinct : colour of U. arctos, with larger ears. 



The gigantic Grisly Bear (U. ferox), now a well-kno^vn species, from the Rocky Mountains of North America, is 

 the most formidable of all the land Bears, and by much the largest. It can only ascend trees, as the others do, 

 when young. It constitutes the ill-characterized subgenus Daitis of Gray. 



The Syrian Bear {U. syriactts) is of a fulvous white colo<ir, with a stiff mane of close erected hairs be- 

 tween the shoulders. The species which inhabits the Atlas chain of mountains remains to be ascertained.] 

 The East Indies produce several Bears of a black colour ; such as 



The Malayan Bear ( U. malayanus) ; from the peninsula beyond the Ganges to the islands of the Straits of Sunda. 

 — Sleek [with comparatively short fur], a fulvous muzzle, and heart-shaped mark of the same colour upon the chest. 

 [This, and another species, or perhaps variety, {U. eim/spilus,) with the whole chest fulvous, from Borneo, consti- 

 tute the division Helarctos of Horsfield, or the Sun Bears. They are small, and of very gentle and playful dispo- 

 sition, easily rendered quite tame.] It is very injurious to the cocoa-nut trees, which it climbs in order to devour 

 the tops, and drink the milk of the fruit. 



The Thibet Bear (U. thibeticus, F. Cuv.)— Black ; the under lip, and a large mark in the form of a Y on the 

 breast, white ; profile straight and claws weak. [Is intermediate to the preceding and next species.] From the 

 mountains in the north of India. 



The most remarkable, however, of all these Indian Bears is the following, of which Illiger forms his genua 

 Prochilus. 



• We shall no longer repeat the words on each iide^ &c. ; it being 

 understood that where the molars of one side are spoken of, those 

 of the other correspond. 



t Although it may seem presumptuous to attempt to set Cuvier 

 right in matters of this Itind, it is nevertheless sullicientlT obvious, on 



analogical comparison of the Bear'a dentition with that of proximate 

 genera, that the third tooth in succession from behind represents the 

 cuttin); or carnivorous tooth in each jaw, there being two tuberculous 

 grinders in this and the five succeeding genera (which togef^ier com 

 pose a distinct natural ^roup), and one only in the remainder. — Ed. 



