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THE POLAR BEAR. (Ursus maritimus.) 

 White Bear, or Ice Bear. 



The Polar bear is found in Greenland, Lapland, and as far 

 north as eighty degrees. 



Its length has been very greatly exaggerated by various 

 authors. Those specimens which have been observed by our 

 adventurous countrymen in the late northern voyages, have 

 never much exceeded seven feet in length, with the exception of 

 one mentioned by Captain Lyon, which measured eight feet seven 

 inches and a half, and weighed sixteen hundred pounds. A male 

 specimen in the Jardin des Plantes, in 1795, measured about 

 six English feet at its first arrival, and had not increased in size 

 at the end of seven years. Pallas mentions an adult female 

 which was only six feet nine inches from the tip of the nose to the 

 root of the tail 3 and Dr. Richardson mentions another female 

 as having been accompanied by two cubs, and, therefore, un- 

 questionably an adult, and which " was so small that two or 

 three men were able to lift her into a boat." The fur is smooth 

 and white, with a slight tinge of yellow, which becomes deeper 



