222 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



no effect upon him, and when hard pressed he would swinl 

 to the other side of the Danube, and resume his depreda- 

 tions there until chased back again. In this manner he 

 was fairly hunted into Lower Hungary, having travelled 

 most of his way by water. From Semlin he was chased 

 beyond Belgrade, but the Turkish peasantry drove him 

 back, and it was many months before he was killed. Be- 

 sides the peculiarity of his excessive bulk, his colour was 

 purpurescent, and several balls were found lodged in his 

 skin. Although the Bear is not uncommon in Hungary* 

 his extraordinary colour and bulk excited so much curiosity, 

 that he was stuffed and preserved at Buda. 



Before we quit the European Bears, it will be necessary 

 to say something of the Black Bear of Europe. Though 

 the Baron speaks with some uncertainty on this point in the 

 present work; yet in the" Ossemens Fossiles," he seems 

 pretty well decided as to the distinction of species. It is 

 our duty, therefore, to present to the reader the substance 

 of his opinion on the subject. 



All the terrestrial Bears of Europe he thinks reducible to 

 two species, different in their general forms, and more espe- 

 cially in the conformation of the crania ; and one of those 

 species he considers divisible into many varieties, founded 

 on the character and colour of the fur. 



In the first of these (which we have already noticed) the 

 upper part of the cranium is arched in every part. The 

 forehead forms a part of the same curve which prevails 

 from the muzzle to the occiput. It is arched also from 

 right to left in the same style as in its length, and there is 

 no clear distinction between the forehead, the middle por- 

 tion of the parietal bones, and the temporal fosses. The 

 sagittal crest only begins to be sensibly marked very near 

 the occipital. 



In the other species, the frontal portion is flattened and 

 even concave, especially crosswise. The two ridges which 



