218 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



Asia, in the Molucca Islands, Mount Atlas, and the western 

 regions of North America. The only mode of fixing the 

 the analogies existing between animals which inhabit such 

 a diverity of climates, and are exposed to such varied in- 

 fluences, is evidently to describe and represent, with exact- 

 ness, such specimens as are discovered, so that we may be 

 able to approximate and compare them together, in all the 

 details of their organization. Accordingly, we shall here 

 present to our readers, M. Frederic Cuvier's description of 

 two Bears, which came under his immediate inspection ; 

 one was a Brown Bear from the Alps, which was adult ; 

 the other, a very young Bear from Norway. 



The proportions of the first (in French measure,) were : 

 From the extremity of the muzzle to the buttocks, 1 ft. 

 7 in. 6 lines ; from the end of the muzzle to the oc- 

 ciput, 3 ft. ; its mean height was 2 ft. 1 in. 

 It was covered all over the body with very thick, long, 

 and rather soft hair, generally of a maroon brown, deep on 

 the shoulders, the back, thighs, and legs ; but on the sides 

 of the head, ears, and flanks, tinted with yellow. On the 

 paws, this hair became short, and nearly black ; as also on 

 the muzzle, where, however, it retained rather more of the 

 brown colour of the head. 



The circle surrounding the pupil of the eye was of the 

 same colour as the fur. The sole of the hind feet was 

 entirely naked, and marked with four folds, which corre- 

 spond to the divisions of the toes. These last were sepa- 

 rated from the sole by some hairs, and each of them was 

 furnished with an elliptical tubercle. The palm of the 

 fore-paws was naked only on its interior half; but behind, 

 there was a naked and rounded tubercle, surrounded by 

 hairs. There were three folds on the naked part, two 

 which corresponded to the two internal toes, while the 

 two external ones were embraced within that part circum- 

 scribed by the third fold. But this part was also divided 

 by a fold, cutting it obliquely from front to rear, and from 



