306 PLINT'S KATTTEAIi HISTOET. [Book VIII, 



prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper 

 shape. There is nothing more uncommon than to see a. she- 

 hear in the act of parturition." The male remains in his 

 retreat for forty days, the female four months. If they 

 happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches 

 and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is 

 lined with soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are 

 overcome by so deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused by 

 wounds even. They become wonderfully fat, too, while in this 

 lethargic state. This fat is much used in medicine ; and it is 

 very useful in preventing the hair from falling off.™ At the end 

 of these fourteen days they sit up, and find nourishment by 

 sucking their fore-paws.'* They warm their cubs, when cold, 

 by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which 

 birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but 

 Theophrastus believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the 

 bear, the animalTDeing killed in its dormant state, it wiU in- 

 crease in bulk, even though it may have been cooked." During 

 this period no signs of food are to be foimd in the stomach 

 of the animal, and only a very slight quantity of liquid ; there 

 are a few drops of blood only near the heart, but none what- 

 ever in any other part of the body.™ They leave their retreat 

 in the spring, the males being remarkably fat: of this cir- 

 cumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory explana- 

 tion, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk, 

 lUsts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days." When 

 they come out, they eat a certain plant, which is known as 



their limbs are ill formed, whicli is correct ; but the account here given is 

 greatly exaggerated. — B. 



" As the birth takes place ■when the mother is in her winter retreat, it 

 can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie. — B. 



" This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46 ; this property of the fat of the 

 bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it still retains its 

 place amon^ our popular remedies ; but it is difficult to conceive that it can 

 have any virtue above other fatty substances of the same consistence. — B. 



'* This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by Aristotle, 

 Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17 ; by jElian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3 ; and by Op- 

 pian, Halieut. B. ii. — B. 



'5 We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab. 

 Auscult. p, 1168. — B. 



'6 Probably from Aristotle, iiSi supra. — B. 



'■> This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by sup- 

 posing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in their winter 

 retreats, which they consume while they remain without exercise. — B. 



