BEAR. 141 



from Tibet, they are all included in the typical genus, the 

 distinctive characteristics of which it will be superfluous to 

 indicate in the present work. 



THE TRUE BEARS. GENUS URSUS. 

 Ursus, Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 69 (1766). 



THE BROWN BEAR. URSUS ARCTUS. 



Ursus arctos, Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 69 (17C6). 



The Brown Bear, being a species exterminated within the 

 British Islands during the historical period, has the same claim 

 as the Wolf to be regarded as a British Mammal. Being, how- 

 ever, thus extinct within our area, and at the same time such a 

 thoroughly well-known animal, we think that we shall best 

 serve the interests of our readers by omitting all description, 

 and confining ourselves to a brief notice of the records of its 

 extermination. For these, as in the case of the Wolf, we are 

 indebted entirely to Mr. J. E. Harting, who has so thoroughly 

 investigated what remains of the history of the exterminated 

 Mammals of our islands. 



We may premise that the Brown Bear (which is still far from 

 uncommon in many parts of the Continent), under a variety of 

 local races, has a wide distribution in the Old World, ranging 

 over the greater part of Europe and Northern Asia, and ex- 

 tending as far south as the Western Himalaya and the valley 

 of Kashmir. In North America it is represented by the closely 

 allied Grisly Bear. Although there is some difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing between the different species of Bears of this group 

 by their skulls and teeth alone, it is now well ascertained that 

 remains of the Brown Bear have been obtained from the 

 brick-earths of the Thames valley, the fens of Cambridge- 

 shire, various superficial deposits in Scotland and Ireland, and 

 also from several of the English caves. It should be added 



