94 UR8ID.E. 



to a greater distance from the articular surface; the del- 

 toidal ridge reaches lower down in the White Bear; the 

 antero-posterior diameter of the proximal third part of the 

 bone of the White Bear exceeds in a marked degree that 

 of the extinct species. 



The decease of Hunter took place before the printing of 

 his observations on the fossil cave-bones, and the individual 

 to whom the task of superintending the printing was en- 

 trusted, described both the figures of the humeri in the 

 Plate, as belonging to the fossil species. Cuvier, who did 

 not perceive the resemblance of the upper figure to the 

 humerus of the White Bear, and who, therefore, did not 

 recognise the mistake, avails himself of it to illustrate his 

 opinions respecting the specific distinction of his Ursus 

 spelteus and U. arctoideus. 



Cuvier, in fact, possessed a fossil humerus of one of the great 

 Cave Bears, the internal condyle of which was perforated 

 as in the feline tribe, whilst other humeri were imperforate, 

 and corresponded with the lower figure in Hunter's plate. 

 But the perforated fossil humerus figured by Cuvier differs 

 from that of the White Bear in the shorter deltoid ridge, 

 the narrower proximal and distal extremities, the convex 

 outline of the supinator ridge, and the inferior production of 

 the inner condyle ; in short, in all those characters by which 

 the imperforate fossil humerus has been shown above to 

 differ from that of the White Bear. Not any of the three 

 fossil humeri in the Hunterian Collection have the perfora- 

 tion of the internal condyle ; and amongst the extremely 

 numerous humeri of large Bears that have since been 

 obtained from the bone-caves of Germany, not any have 

 been found to present the perforation which Cuvier regards 

 as the specific character of this bone in the Ursus spelaus ; 



