63 



there is found a favorite fish with the Otter, called the fresh-water trout 

 {Grystes salmoides). 



" Although the food of the Otter in general is fish, yet when hard 

 pressed by hunger it will not reject animal food of any kind. Those we 

 had in confinement, when no fish could be procured, were fed on beef, 

 which they always preferred boiled. During the last winter we ascer- 

 tained that the skeleton and feathers of a wild duck were taken from 

 an Otter's nest on the banks of a rice field reserve-dam. It was conjec- 

 tured that the duck had either been killed or wounded by the hunters, 

 and was in this state seized by the Otter." 



FAMILY URSIDiE. 



The family Ursidm formerly included the Raccoons, to which they are 

 allied by the tuberculate premolars, plantigrade walk, and siout body; 

 the group is now restricted to the Bears proper, of large size, clumsy 

 form, and very short tail. The cutting and compressed crowns of the 

 sectorial teeth characteristic of the Cats and Dogs, are here replaced by 

 broad teeth, with the crowns studded with tubercles, adapting the Bears 

 to the more varied nature of their food. The species are not numerous, 

 and, with the exception of one species, Ursus ornatus, which occurs in the 

 South American Andes, are only found in the northern hemisphere. 

 Gends Uesus. Linnseus. 



Generic Characters. — Body thick, clumsy, and large ; feet entirely planti- 

 grade ; soles naked ; nails long ; tail very short ; head very broad. Denti- 

 tion : i. |:|; c. \zk; pm. i:J; m. |:|=||^42. 



The skull of the Bears is larger, and the muzzle longer and broader 

 than in th- Dogs and Cats ; the lower jaw is massive and high ; the bony 

 palate extends behind the molar teeth. 



In the bears the molar teeth (seven) attain the maximum found in 

 placental mammalia ; some of the premolars are very small, and early 

 deciduous, particularly the second and third. The first three premolars 

 above and below are small; they have a single fang, and at their crowns 

 are occupied by a single compressed tubercle. The fourth upper premolar 

 represents the sectorial tooth of the carnivora; its shape is triangular 

 with the base posterior instead of anterior, as in Dogs. The first true 

 molar has an oblong crown, with four principal cusps. 



There are in the United Stalte« two perfectly distinct species; the 

 Black Bear, Ursus amerimnm, and the Grizzly, Ursus arctoa horribilia, the 

 " Cinnamon Bear " of mountaineers (not the Cinnamon Bear of authors, 

 which is K americanus var. cinnamoneus). The Grizzly is probably not 

 specifically different from U. arctos of Europe. The two occur under al- 

 most every variation of color, but retain their specific characters through- 



