434 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



Brown Bear (Fig. 327) is found in the mountainous parts of 

 the Continent of Europe, and was formerly a native of Britain, 

 The remains of two other species have been discovered in Eng- 

 land, as well as in other parts of Europe, in a fossil state; one 

 of them, the Great Cave Bear, must have been of gigantic size. 



Fig. 327 BROWN BEAR. 



The Badger (Meles taxus) is in these countries the only 

 surviving representative of the present family. Fossil remains 

 of the Badger have been found in the same localities as those of 

 the Great Cave Bear above-mentioned; and the species appears 

 to be identical with that existing. There are even grounds for 

 attributing to it a still higher antiquity, and for believing it to 

 be, to use the words of Professor Owen,* "the oldest sped 

 of mammalia now living on the face of the earth." 



III. Mustelidce. The Otter, the Weasel, and the Ferr< 

 are so well known that they may be enumerated as giving, by 

 the slenderness and flexibility of their bodies, an idea of the 

 characteristic structure of the group. The Otter, which lives 

 principally upon fish, has been taught to aid the fisherman 

 in his vocation. The Stoat (M. erminea), like the Alpine 

 Hare or the Ptarmigan, changes the colour of its covering 

 in winter to a snowy white. The fur is then in that condi- 



ies 

 et, 



* British Fossil Mammalia, p. 111. 





