236 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



wise, without doubt, destroy them. When they sally from 

 their retreat, in about five or six months, they seem ex- 

 tremely in want of nourishment, and it is not a little dan- 

 gerous to meet them at that period. Captain Ross, in the 

 account of his Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic Regions, 

 states, that he received a message from one of the whalers, 

 he fell in with, requesting surgical assistance for the 

 master, whose thigh had been very severely lacerated by a 

 wounded Bear, which had attacked and dragged him out of 

 the boat. The animal was pierced by three lances before 

 he would relinquish his hold ; when, disengaging himself 

 from the weapons, he swam to the ice, and made off. 



This species of Bear is found only on the shores of the 

 Frozen Ocean, and it never descends, but by accident, from 

 those inhospitable regions. Sometimes, in spring, when 

 the ice is detached from the coasts, they have been known to 

 arrive in Norway, on the floating flakes. But, in general, 

 they are not found to establish themselves on this side of 

 the Arctic circle. The males first quit their retreats, and it 

 is at this period that the females are delivered of their 

 young, (generally two at a birth,) which are nursed by 

 them with the greatest care, to the following winter. We 

 are assured, by travellers, that they even carry them on 

 their backs in swimming, or when the young are tired, 

 after the manner of Swans, and many other Water-Fowl. 



Another species, which we owe to the researches of Sir 

 T. S. Raffles, is the Ursus Malay anus. He observes, that 

 " this deserves to be ranked as a distinct species from 

 the Common Bear, and from that of the continent of India. 

 The most striking difference is in the comparative short- 

 ness of the hair, and the fineness and glossiness of the fur, 

 in which particular, it appears to resemble the American 

 Bear. It is further remarkable in having a large heart- 

 shaped spot of white on the breast. The muzzle is of a 



