204 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar. 2, li 



THE BLACK BEAR OF AMERICA. 

 Everyone must have had occasion to remark that 

 many of the proverbial sayings applied to animals, 

 whether wild or tame, are radically false. The alleged 

 magnanimity of the lion must be largely discounted. It 

 has been found that the hare is not more timorous than 

 other beasts, though it does flee before a pack of hounds, 

 or before marksmen carrying arms of precision. Far 

 from being stupid, the goose surpasses a number of birds 

 in intelligence, and in like manner Master Bruin, who 

 has been taken for the very type of stupidity, possesses 

 a fiendish cunning, an excellent memory, senses of an 

 exquisite delicacy, and a mind susceptible of a certain 

 degree of education. Still, we must admit that up to a 

 certain point the bear is open to the charge of coarseness. 

 When young he is, indeed, gay, sociable, and much 

 attached to his associates, but with advancing age he 

 grows dull and surly. In spite of the interesting rela- 

 tions which he maintains with the public in our Zoo- 

 logical gardens, he does not become humanised ; he 

 obeys his keeper grudgingly, and he bestows an evil re- 

 ception upon any person who is imprudent enough to 

 enter his den, or who is awkward enough to fall into it. 



Brehm and other observers cite not a few instances of 

 bears, captured young, brought up in domesticity, sur- 

 rounded with attention,petted, in a word, like children of 

 the family, which yet some fine day suddenly betrayed 

 the confidence of their masters and gave themselves up 

 to acts of violence even against those who had fed them. 

 But do not the lions and the panthers of our menageries 

 behave in an exactly similar manner ? Do not all the 

 larger cats, when tamed, retain the natural ferocity of 

 their race, taking by opportunity a cruel vengeance for 

 the restraint imposed upon them ? Bears are therefore 

 neither more brutal nor more ferocious than many other 

 mammals. During the winter, when pressed by hunger, 

 they become very dangerous, attacking not only the 

 domestic animals, but even man. During the fine 

 season they are content, for the most part, with vegetable 

 iood, honey, and ants, and let those pass in peace who 

 do not seek to injure them. 



In their woodland retreat bears pass entire hours in 

 licking their paws, and in the dens in our Zoological 

 gardens they preserve the same habit. But the expres- 

 sion " unlicked cub," sometimes bestowed upon a youth 

 badly brought up, has another meaning. 



It was formerly supposed that the cubs of the bear 

 were born in a very imperfect condition, and were 

 gradually licked into shape by the mother. Aristoteles 

 describes the new-born cub as blind, hairless, having its 

 limbs merely sketched, and being about the size of a 

 rat. Pliny and Ovid express themselves in a very similar 

 manner. This strange notion was handed down through 

 the entire middle ages until its absurdity was recognised 

 in the sixteenth century by Aldrovandi. Ultimately 

 Buffon proved distinctly that young bears are born in a 

 grade of development not relatively inferior to that of 

 other mammalia, and that like the latter they merely 

 present a certain deficiency of equilibrium in various 

 members of their body. 



Without being beautiful, young bears please the 

 observer by their gaiety and grace. They love to frolic, 

 and in their sports they evince the same fascinating 

 awkwardness as do young children. The mother presides 



at their sports, and seeks to cultivate their dexterity. In 

 her solicitude she often forgets even to eat, but her love 

 never degenerates into weakness, and while she lavishes 

 it upon her oftspring, she does not spare correction if 

 necessary. A box on the ear well applied represses any 

 act of disobedience and maintains her authority. The 

 Russians pretend, indeed, that in certain cases the 

 mother keeps with her a son of the last season, or of the 

 last but one, and commits to him the supervision of the 

 young family, reserving the liberty of chastising him 

 sharply for any neglect in the exercise of his duties. 

 But not all bears indulge in the luxury of thus 

 engaging a private tutor for their young ones. In fine 

 weather they lead the young ones to the nearest pool 

 and bathe them. 



Our figure represents a mother thus engaged with the 

 toilet of her family, holding in her mouth a cub all 

 dripping with water, and apparently much discomposed 

 at this forcible ablution. The actors in this scene are 

 American bears belonging to a species which differs from 

 the brown bear of Europe, both in its proportions, and in 

 the colour of its fur. In this species, Urstts Americanus, 

 the total length of the body (six feet six inches) is much 

 the same as in the brown bear of Europe, Ursus ardes. 

 The head is narrower and more resembles that of a dog, 

 the ears are wider apart, the forehead more regularly 

 convex, and the profile more regular without a marked 

 depression below the eyes. The muzzle is more pointed, 

 the body less massive, supported on limbs which are 

 more slender. The tail is more distinct and less buried 

 in the fur. 



The fur itself, instead oi presenting a woolly texture 

 and a hirsute aspect, is generally in adult specimens 

 formed of smooth, silky hair of a deep black. The 

 muzzle alone is covered with short hair, of a brown 

 verging on fawn colour, especially on the sides and in the 

 vicinity of the eye. The feet, shorter than in the brown 

 bear, are armed with very sharp recurved claws, partly 

 hidden in the fur. 



These characters are not so well marked in the cubs, 

 which present a yellowish crescent on the chest, a mark 

 which recurs in certain Asiatic bears. — La Nature. 



Cormorant Fishing in Japan. — Mr. P. L. Youy 

 {American Naturalist) gives an interesting account of the 

 services of tame cormorants in fishing in the mountain 

 streams of Japan. The fish most particularly sought for, 

 the"Ai" of the Japanese, belongs to the Salmonidae, 

 and bears the scientific name Plecoglossus altiveUs. It is 

 in appearance between a trout and a smelt, from twelve 

 to fourteen inches in length, of a bright silvery colour, 

 with a golden spot on each shoulder. It is very delicate 

 in flavour, and is prized accordingly. Fishing begins at 

 night, preferably in calm, cloudy weather. The bird has 

 a ring round the lower part of its neck, to which is 

 attached a cord held by the fisherman, who carries a 

 torch or lantern in his left hand. The bird dives, swims 

 under water, and comes up with fishes, which are put in 

 the basket. During half an hour fifteen fish were taken. 

 A good night's take ranges from 300 to 400. The ques- 

 tion may be raised whether it is not better thus to train 

 the cormorant to fish than to shoot him down, as is the 

 custom here ? 



The Crossing of Cultivated Plants. — According to 

 the observations of Robbe, given in Humboldt, stock 

 plants which have grown from energetically germinating 



