224 ORDER V. 



bably quite similar to that of P. lotor, but that the 

 more abundant rivers in the south, and a peculiar 

 crab very common in all, has made it believed that 

 this object is the principal and most desired prey. 



Genus URSUS. The Bears. We now come to 

 the most important group of the Plantigrades, claim- 

 ing attention no less on account of the bulk, the 

 ferocity, intelligence, peculiar manners, and varied 

 extent of habitat of the several species, but also for 

 the economic use to which their flesh and skins are 

 applied, and the mystical and awful faculties rude 

 nations in both hemispheres, and in every climate, 

 have been prone to ascribe to them. The genus 

 Ursus, now divided into four groups, is composed 

 of species, all of which possess considerable sagacity, 

 and, probably, without exception, are omnivorous: 

 in general, flesh and blood are not objects of pre- 

 dilection, but fruit, vegetables, and, in particular, 

 honey. Bears, of all mammalia, are the larges 

 animals still possessed of the facility of climbing 

 trees, only one or two species appearing to be denied 

 the power after their full growth, or not in want of 

 it, because no trees grow in the localities assigned 

 them. 



The genus in possession of the whole Northern 

 Hemisphere, from the pole to the tropic of Capri- 

 corn, and not even excluded the high mountain 

 regions below and beyond the equatorial line, is 

 represented by a secondary type, particularly ap- 

 pertaining to the dense intertropical vegetation of 

 the low lands in several of the great Australasian 



