THE ROYAL NATURAL HISTORY. 



MAMMALS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CARNIVORES, continued. 



BEARS. 

 Family URSID^E. 



THE bears are so different in appearance from the other Carnivores that no one 

 could fail to recognise their representatives at a glance, or would hesitate to admit 

 that, so far at least as living forms are concerned, they are entitled to constitute a 

 group by themselves. The number of species included in the family is compara- 

 tively small; and the whole of them are arranged under three genera, two of 

 which are represented by but a single species each. 



Bears differ from the Carnivores hitherto noticed in an important feature 

 connected with the hinder-part of the under-surface of the skull. Thus, whereas 

 in all the preceding families the so-called tympanic bulla at the base of the 

 internal portion of the ear forms an inflated bladder-like capsule, which is 



VOL. II. I 



