224 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



and fish. But the fact is that all the Bears are omnivo* 

 rous; and in the menageries, all of them, even the Polar 

 Bear, to which so marked a character for cruelty has been 

 given, are fed with bread alone, and that without sustain- 

 ing the least detriment. For more than twenty years in 

 the French menagerie, the Bears have been supported on 

 no other regimen. In truth, the cheek-teeth of the Bears, 

 fiat and tuberculous like those of Man and the Simiae, and 

 never trenchant like those of Lions and Wolves, would lead 

 us a priori to the conclusion, that they were destined to 

 make use of every kind of aliment. 



A third species, according to the Baron, is the Black 

 Bear of America, which, though bearing some affinity with 

 the last, is nevertheless very clearly distinguished from it 

 by characters of sufficient certainty. 



The osseous head is shorter in proportion to its bulk, and 

 the zygomatic arches, being less convex and less separated 

 from the cranium, leave consequently less volume to the 

 crotaphite muscle. This explains, to a certain extent, the 

 fact attested by all travellers, of the milder disposition ge- 

 nerally evinced by this species. On the other hand, its 

 forehead is arched like that of the Brown Bear, not flat and 

 concave as in the black, and yet the temporal crests are 

 well marked, and meet in sufficient time to form a sagittal, 

 which occupies as great a portion of the cranium as in the 

 Black Bear of Europe. 



It may be remarked that in both species, as indeed in all 

 the Carnassiers, the sagittal crest increases in length with 

 age, because the crotaphite muscles grow more bulky, 

 and produce more marked impressions. This, however, 

 does not affect the question of the distinction laid clown 

 above, between the Black and Brown Bear, as the latter at 

 no period of life possesses a long sagittal crest. All the 

 fur is black excepting on the muzzle. The skin is first co- 

 vered by a very copious wool of a reddish black, and the 



