ORDER CARNASSIER. 233 



of judging on the subject than the lights afforded him by 

 the accounts of travellers. When Collinson, however, had 

 sent him a figure of this bear, he then decided, from the 

 conformation of the head, that it must be a distinct species, 

 essentially differing from the Brown Bear of Europe. Pal- 

 las, afterwards, confirmed this opinion, by an attentive ex- 

 amination of a young individual of this species ; and since 

 that time, the Polar Bear has been generally admitted into 

 s) r stematic catalogues, under the specific denomination of 

 the Ursus Maritimus. In fact, although this Bear has a 

 general resemblance of exterior to the Brown Bear, and is 

 also pretty similiar in the details of its organization, in the 

 instruments of sense and motion, yet it is so different in 

 the forms of the head and proportions of the neck, that 

 nothing could authorize the supposition of identity of spe- 

 cies. In the Brown Bear, the muzzle is separated from 

 the forehead by a profound depression, while, in the Polar 

 Bear, these two parts of the head are nearly on the same 

 line. The front of the Common Bear is rounded, that of 

 the Polar Bear is flat. This last has the head narrow, and 

 the muzzle broad ; the other has the head broad, and the 

 muzzle narrow. The Polar Bear is also still further cha- 

 racterized, by the length of his body in comparison of 

 his height, by the length of his neck, by the small extent of 

 the auditory conch, and by the length of the sole of the 

 foot, which forms, according to the Baron, one sixth of the 

 length of the entire body ; whereas, in the Brown Bear, it 

 forms but one-tenth. The Polar Bear is, finally, distin- 

 guished by the length and fineness of his fur. 



M. F. Cuvier describes an individual which was in the 

 Parisian menagerie, in 1795. His length, from the extre- 

 mity of the muzzle to the posterior part of the body, was 

 about five feet eight inches. But he had not attained the 

 stature of his species, in consequence of constant confine- 

 ment ; for their usual length is from seven to eight feet. 



