206 ORDER V. 



oody, and dark beneath, producing a kind of family 

 livery, alike in this and the Orisons, Taxidea, and 

 Meles, and not obliterated in Eira and Arctonix. 



Genus GULO. The Glutton. We retain for the 

 true Gluttons alone the generical name of Gulo, 

 because, notwithstanding the similarity of dentition, 

 they have a more compact and vigorous structure, 

 a short tail, a totally different aspect, different man- 

 ners, are remote in habitat, and fitted for a very 

 opposite temperature from those we have grouped 

 together under the generical name of Eira. They 

 are, in general form, resembling the badger rather 

 than a marten or an otter, stand higher on the legs, 

 never willingly enter water, and even abandon their 

 prey if it can plunge into a stream while they hang 

 to its neck ; though, on all other emergencies, they 

 evince a ferocious tenacity of purpose unsurpassed 

 by any other carnivorous animal. All the Eiras, 

 we believe, are tropical; the Gluttons, probably 

 forming only one species, are nearly Arctic, tenant- 

 ing, in their greatest state of perfection, in bulk and 

 beauty of fur, the most northern forests of both 

 continents, and becoming rare south of Canada, 

 Sweden, and Poland. Heavy, and rather slow, they 

 have been endowed with considerable intelligence, 

 as is evinced when they are kept in domestication ; 

 without it, indeed, although they are by no means 

 select, food for their incessant cravings could not be 

 otherwise supplied. Hunters in both hemispheres 

 agree, that preying on the northern stags and on rein- 

 deer of the woods, they can only obtain this quarry 



