BLACK AMERICAN BEAR. 57 



fur was brownish black, rough, partly woolly, and 

 rather long, especially on the belly and thighs. The 

 upper part of the nose was a clear fawn-colour, and the 

 remainder of the muzzle of a brownish red fawn. 

 This the baron believes to be the bear which naturalists 

 term the black bear of Europe ; which he considers 

 distinct from that of America, whose fur is black, 

 pliant, and shining. The peculiar flattened form of 

 the cranium can be perceived through the hairs which 

 cover it, quite sufficiently to distinguish the animal 

 from the common brown bear.* 



The peculiarities of the skull are thus stated by 

 M. Cuvier : — ^' The frontal portion is flattened, and 

 even concave, especially across ; the two ridges which 

 separate it from the fossa? temporales are strongly 

 marked, and form, behind, an acute angle, prolonged 

 into a very elevated sagittal crest, \vhich is not marked 

 until it meets the occiput." The well-marked depression 

 and ridges of the cranium, giving lodgment and origin 

 to the strong muscles of the lower jaw, show that this 

 species is more decidedly a beast of prey than the 

 brown one ; in which respect they differ from the bears 

 of corresponding colours which inhabit the New World. t 



The Black AaiERicAN Bear. 



Ursus Americanus, Pallas. Ursus Americanus, American 

 Black Bear, Richardson. Ours dAmerique, Cuvier. Black 

 Bear, Ptnnant. Tass, Chepewi/nn Indians, Musquaw, Crce 

 Indians, North. Zool. i. 14. (Fig. 6.) 



Although the merit of being the first to distinguish 

 this animal belongs to Pallas, yet Dr. Richardson is the 

 only naturalist who has studied it in its native wilds ; 

 and whose account, which we shall now condense, will 

 consequently supersede all others. It is smaller than 

 the other American bears ; it is also of a milder dispo- 

 sition, and lives more on vegetable substances than the 

 black bear of Europe. Its favourite food, in fact, is 



* Griff. Cuv. + North. Zool. i. 14. 



