ANCESTRY OF BEARS 
which are black. This curious relic of a bygone time stands 
between Arctotherium and Hyzenarctus; and between the latter 
and Ursus, the genus of modern bears, stands in 
Cope’s view Tremarctus, with two species, one fossil 
and the other living in the quaint little “spectacled” bears of 
the Peruvian Andes, about which little is known. 
luropus. 
Not until the Pliocene in the Old World and later in the New did the 
true bears (Ursus) appear, so that this is perhaps the youngest branch of 
the Carnivora; and while highly specialized in many particulars, e.g. loss 
of tail, they retain many primitive features, such as the plantigrade walk. 
Of the various extinct species, all large in size, the most important is the 
cave bear of Europe, whose remains are extremely numerous in cavern 
floors ®§ and other recent deposits, mingled with evidence that it persisted 
until long after man began to roam its forests; and he undoubtedly extin- 
guished its line. It was so like a grizzly, judging by its bones, that some 
naturalists have asserted that the grizzly is its direct American descendant. 
These caves also contain skeletons of the brown bear, proving that its dis- 
tribution was in the past far more extensive than now; in fact, it was not 
until shortly before the Norman Conquest that it was exterminated in 
the British Isles, which had furnished in great numbers the “Caledonian 
bears” so popular in the arena shows of imperial Rome. 
Bears are massive, 
clumsy beasts, with 
thick limbs, big, 
strongly clawed, 
plantigrade, naked- 
soled feet, and an 
ability ta take the 
world as they find it. 
It is in the skull and 
teeth that a bear 
diverges most from 
other carnivores. In- 
stead of having a 
greatly inflated tympanic bulla, associated with big ears and 
implying the quick hearing so notable in dogs, cats, etc., 
211 
GRIZZLY BEAR, 
