396 Field Museum or Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XI. 



three young. The one that had fallen, besides being very wet, was 

 slightly hurt, and climbed with difficulty. When halfway up he stopped 

 on a limb to rest and began whimpering and crying. The mother had 

 already reached the hole, but on hearing his cries turned about and 

 climbed down to him. Taking a good hold of the back of his neck and 

 placing him between her fore legs so that he, too, could climb, she 

 marched him up the tree and into the hollow."* 



Specimens examined from Illinois and Wisconsin: 



Illinois — Joliet, i; Rosiclare, Hardin Co., i; Olive Branch, Alexander 

 Co., 3; Chicago, i; '^ Illinois" (melanistic) , 1 = 7. 



Wisconsin — "Wisconsin" (albino), i; (M. P. M.) Milwaukee, i; 

 Prescott, Pierce Co., i; Waukesha, 2; Prairie du Sac, i; Roxbury 

 Dam, 3; Maiden Rock, 2; Pewaukee, i; (O. C, skulls) Gordon, 

 Douglas Co., 6; Waterford, Racine Co., i; Barron Co., i; Wau- 

 kesha Co., i; Langlade Co., i; Pewaukee, Waukesha Co., 3; (S. C.) 

 Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., 4; (O.) Lake Geneva, Walworth Co., i = 30. 



Family URSIDi^. Bears. 



Bears are widely distributed throughout the world, but are absent 

 in the Ethiopian and Australian regions. They are plantigrade ani- 

 mals and practically omnivorous. The majority of the species belong- 

 ing to this family are large animals, one of them, which is found in 

 Alaska, being the largest known member of the order. The toes are 

 armed with strong claws, long and but slightly curved in the so-called 

 Grizzly Bears in North America; and sharper, shorter and more curved 

 in our Black Bears. The teeth are large, the molars having flattened, 

 tubercular crowns. The fourth upper premolar (carnassial) is smaller 

 than the first molar and lacks the third inner root. It differs from the 

 usual type, the crown being broad with elongated cusps. The caecum 

 is absent and there are four mammae, all pectoral; the kidneys are 

 lobate. 



Other characters for this family are: all feet with five toes; palms 

 of feet naked (except the Polar Bear, T. maritimus) ; tail very short ; 

 audital bullae flattened and undivided; condyloid and glenoid foramina 

 distinct; alisphenoid canal present in American species; molars, -^. 



Bears hibernate to a more or less extent in North America, even 



* N. Amer. Fauna, No. 25, 1905, p. 194. 



