930 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE FEET 
and flattish main or plantar pad*. Behind the plantar pad of 
the fore foot there is always one additional carpal pad on the 
external or ulnar side of the carpus; and on the hind foot there 
is always a larger or smaller naked area, which may involve the 
whole of the posterior portion of the sole as far back as the heel. 
It is mainly, however, in the degree of hairiness of this area 
behind the plantar pads of both fore and hind feet that the 
greatest variation is exhibited. 
Feet of the Polar Bear (Thalarctos maritimus). 
(Text-fig. 9, A, B.) 
Tn two newly-born cubs of Polar Bears from Spitzbergen, the 
digital pads are not webbed, but are separated to the base as in 
all bears except Meluwrsus. The depressed area between them 
and the very short and wide plantar pad is scantily covered with 
very short hairs, and the area behind the plantar pad is similarly 
covered, except for the small external carpal pad on the fore foot 
and a corresponding, elongated, somewhat piriform, anteriorly 
pointed, small, flat pad on the sole of the hind foot, which are 
quite naked. 
In our adult living examples the soles of the feet, apart from 
the digital and plantar pads, the carpal pad, and the corresponding 
elliptical area on the hind foot, are thickly covered mostly with 
long hair, except the sole of the hind foot, where the hair is 
worn short; and in a male specimen a narrow strip of naked 
skin extends forwards from the naked elliptical area to the 
plantar pad of the hind foot. The feet, in fact, agree with the 
description of the feet of the Polar Bear, recently published by 
G.S. Miller t, who says :—-“ Fore feet with palmar tubercles and 
balls of toes essentially as in U. aretos, but smaller; pad on hind 
foot without backward continuation along inner [outer] portion 
of sole.” Since Miller did not detect the little naked pad behind 
the plantar pad on the hind foot, it is possible that this pad is 
sometimes, perhaps seasonally, covered with hair. But its 
presence in this newly-born cub is full of significance. 
Feet of the black Bear (Ursus americanus). 
(Text-figs. 10 and 13, D, F.) 
The fore feet of an adult male Black Bear from Newfound- 
land agree in essential points with those of the Polar Bear, that 
is to say, the digital pads are separated, the depression behind 
them is covered thickly with long hairs, and the area behind the 
plantar pad is similarly clothed with hairs, from which the carpal 
* It is the custom sometimes to call the main pad of the fore foot the “ palmar” 
and that of the hind foot the “plantar” pad. But in this paper I have used the 
term plantar for the main pads of both fore and hind feet. 
+ Cat. Mamm. Western Europe, p. 298,1912. In his description of the hind foot 
of this species, as of U. arctos, Miller wrote “inner” for “ outer.” 
