50 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
Cavern Bear (Ursus spelaeus.) The former being now generally 
accepted as agreeing osteologically with the Grisley Bear, these two 
may be considered as one and the same species. Indeed the Gigantic 
Cavern Bear of England and the Continent, although differing in 
some points from the Ursus fossilis and chiefly in its greater 
dimensions, may only be a large individual of that species 
in as much as its osteologicai and dental characters are of 
doubtful importance. The fossil Ursus priscus of Goldfuss for 
a long time considered distinct from other species when compared 
by Mr. Busk with the smaller cavern bear and Ursus ferox was 
found not to present sufficient characters to make it a different 
species, so that at present all the extinct bears of European pleis- 
tocene deposits are osteologically very closely allied to recent 
species. Indeed itmay be doubtful whether the gigantic fossil 
form is other than an individual variety of the Ursus fossilis vel 
ferox, seeing that variability seems to have been the rule in past 
times as at present in the case of the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos.) 
The very wide distribution of the latter species, and the variabi- 
lity to which it is subject as regard dimensions and outward 
aspect are very pronounced, especially when the alpine and low- 
land denizens are compared. For example the Isabelline coloured, 
—a fulvous variety which affects the higher Himalayan Mountains, 
through inability to procure subsistence in winter is not only 
driven to hibernate for nearly half the year, but from being un- 
able to capture the ungulates and other animals is also compelled 
to subsist on vegetable food. This change of living, continued for 
a length of time, has converted a naturally ferocious animal into 
one of the most cowardly creatures in existence as I can vouch 
from much personal experience of the habits of the Isabelline 
Bear of the Cashmere Mountains. Moreover its molars have very 
pronounced tuberculated crowns ; perhaps the result of its herbi- 
vorous diet—a condition seemingly characteristic of this as 
compared with the more omnivorous forms of the Ursus arctos, 
As to the Grisley Bear we may well believe that its far-famed 
ferocity has been maintained from the fact that it continues to 
prey on the bison, on which it depends to a great extent for sub- 
sistence, 
