151 



YERTEBRATA. 



connection with the habits of the animals, and always corresponds with other important charac- 

 ters, the differences observed in the structure of these extremities arc of great value in the dis- 

 crimination of the families, and have even l>ccn employed in the primary division of the order 

 into groups. 



The most predaceous species are possessed of extraordinary activity ; their bodies are light 

 and muscular; their legs are long, and their short toes alone are applied to the ground: they 

 walk, as we should say, on tip-toe, and they are accordingly called DigttiynnUi. Those species 

 which are intended for a more or Less vegetable diet, are heavier and endowed with far less 

 agility ; their toes are longer, and they apply the whole foot, including the metatarsus and tarsus, 

 to the ground in walking : these are denominated Plantigrada. These two groups, however, 

 shade off almost insensibly into one another, and some naturalists have proposed the formation 

 of an intermediate group, containing those Carnivora in which a portion of the sole is applied to 

 the ground, under the name of Semi-plantigrada. 



Among the fossil remains of animals, those of various species of Carnivora arc abundant, espe- 

 cially those of the bear and hyena. The bones of the latter have been discovered in heaps in 

 the caverns of Northern Europe, thus showing that in some remote geological era, the climate of 

 that part of the world was adapted to animals essentially tropical in their nature and habits. 





EUKOFEAN BEAE. 



THE BEARS: URSID^E. 



Genus BEAU : Ursus. — Of the bears there are many kinds, varying greatly in some of their 

 characteristics; we shall, however, notice them in one group. They are found in various parts 

 of the world, yet no species is met with in Australia, and it has not been ascertained to exist in 

 Africa. Cuvier held that it was not a native of that country; but Ehrenberg says : "We our- 

 selves have seen in the mountains of Abyssinia, and therefore in Africa itself, an animal most 

 like to a bear, and hunted it repeatedly, but in vain. It is called by the natives UTarrai." lb- 

 then goes on to state, that he can give to those who are interested in the geographical distri- 

 bution of the bear, ''true tidings of a blackish, plantigrade wild beast most like unto a bear," in 

 the mountains of Abyssinia. It seems probable, therefore, that a species of bear is a native of the 

 high mountainous regions of Eastern Africa. 



In Asia and in Europe, as well as America, the species are widely distributed. The positive 

 qualities of these beasts were likely to make them objects of attention, and hence we find them 

 spoken of in the histories of remote ages. The she-bears which came out of the wood, "and 



