421 



had immediate reference to the splendid collection of the fossils of 

 Gaylenreuth, in the National Museum, which had been presented to 

 M. BufFon, for the Parisian Museum, by the late Margrave of Anspach. 



To enable himself to employ this rich fund of materials successfully, in 

 the investigation respecting the animals of the caves, he first devoted him- 

 self to a careful examination of the recent skeletons of bears, wishing to 

 determine the number of their species, and to ascertain their respective 

 differences. Thus he discovered that the bears of Europe were all re- 

 ferable to two species; the differences of which were discoverable in 

 their forms, and particularly in the shape of the bones of the head; and 

 that one, at least, of these species, was divided into several varieties, by 

 the nature and colour of their hair. 



The grand characteristic of one of these species is, the rounded form 

 of the whole of the top of the head. The forehead forms a part of the 

 same curve which extends from the muzzle to the occiput ; and the sa- 

 gittal ridge does not begin to show itself, but near to the occiput. To 

 this species he refers the common brown bear of the Alps, Switzerland, 

 Savoy, and the Pyrenees. To the variety inhabiting the P}^renees, he 

 considers that the golden bear belongs. To this species also belongs the 

 Polish silver bear, and the terrestrial bear of Pallas. 



In the other species, the frontal part of the skull is flattened, and even 

 concave, particularly across. The ridges which part off the temporal 

 fossae are strongly marked, and form an acute angle behind, which is 

 prolonged into a highly-raised sagittal crista, which joins the occipital 

 ridge. 



To this second species he refers that which the naturalists have distin- 

 guished as the black bear of Europe. He has only seen one of this spe- 

 cies, which was of a considerable size, with coarse blackish brown hair, 

 long and rather woolly. 



The black bear of America forms, in M. Cuvier's opinion, a third spe- 

 cies. The skull, in this species, is shorter, in proportion to its thickness, 

 and the zygomatic arches are less concave, and the small grinders more 

 numerous, than in either of the preceding species. To this species belong 



