THE GRIZZLY BEAR 



BEARS are included by zoologists in that order whose 

 typical forms are, besides themselves, the d(^, cat, 

 and seal,/ and they belong to the h^her of those sub- 

 orders into which this group of camivora has been divided. 

 Ursidce hold a middle place among bear-like beasts, and 

 although their generic history is not so complete as that 

 of others. Dr. Lund's discoveries in Brazilian bone-caves 

 brought to light a fossil form that Wallace regards as 

 representative of an existing American species. Their 

 palaeontological record carries them far back among the 

 fauna of earlier geological periods, and connects the sub- 

 ordinal section which contains existing arctoids with insect- 

 eating and pouched vertebrates on one side, and on the 

 other, with the precursors of monkeys, apes, and men. 



In their most general structural traits bears possess the 

 characteristic features of all carnivores — their abbreviated 

 digestive tract, developed muscular systems and sense 

 organs, and highly specialized teeth. At the same time 

 this genus is considerably modified, and on that account 

 bears were placed among Fissipedia, which are practically 

 omnivorous. Finally, Ursidce are plantigrades with mus- 

 cles fused in plates, and so exhibit the ungainliness, the 

 awkward and comparatively slow and restricted movements 

 peculiar to the genus. 



