﻿URSUS. 7 



II. DISTRIBUTION IN BRITAIN AND ELSEWHERE. 



The oldest British formation from which the fossil remains of bears have been 

 described is the Suffolk Crag. Owen, 1 writing in 1846, says " the oldest fossil 

 referable to the genus Ursus from British strata is the crown of a molar tooth, 

 which was found at Newbourn, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. The bear's tooth is 

 the antepenultimate grinder of the right side, upper jaw ; it is smaller than the 

 corresponding tooth in TJ. spelseus." Newton 2 was, unfortunately, unable to verify 

 this determination, and suggests that the tooth may be attributable to Sus. In 

 1864 Lankester 3 described and figured a slender canine tooth, also said to have 

 come from the Red Crag of Newbourn, near Woodbridge. This specimen, which 

 is in the Reed collection at York, he referred with little hesitation to TJ. ctrver- 

 nensis. Boyd Dawkins, and Newton 3 have both doubted the correctness of this 

 identification, the latter saying "it seems more probable it will prove to be an 

 anterior tooth of Squalodon and, therefore, cannot be taken as evidence of the 

 occurrence of Ursus in the Red Crag." 



The Forest Bed is the oldest British formation in which undoubted bears' 

 bones have been found. The best specimens were originally described by Owen, 4 

 and they have been re-examined and described by Newton. 5 The specimens found 

 were at first attributed to as many as four species of bears — TJ. spelseus, arvemensis, 

 etruscus, and prisons (= liorribilis). The best specimen described by Owen is a 

 small mandible, which, in spite of its small size, is referred to TJ. spelmis for the 

 following reasons : (1) There is a long diastema between the canine and the first 

 tooth of the molar series, pm. 4; (2) pm. 4 has a complicated form ; (3) m. 3 is broad 

 as compared with the same tooth in the brown and grizzly bears. Owen's identifi- 

 cation is endorsed by Newton. Another specimen 7 has pm. 1 present, but in spite 

 of this fact is referred by Newton to TJ. spelseus, while a third and larger specimen 8 

 agrees with the normal spelseus in the complete absence of the anterior premolars. 

 Of the sixteen specimens found in the Forest Bed, nine are referred by Newton 

 without hesitation to TJ. spelaeus, and probably two more belong to this species. 



The supposed occurrence of TJ. arvemensis is based on a fragment of the right 

 maxilla with two teeth, now in the Museum of Practical Geology. It has been 

 regarded by Dawkins as probably referable to TJ. arvemensis. Newton considered 

 that there was no evidence to show the correctness of this attribution, and regarded 



1 ' Brit. Foss. Mamm. and Birds,' p. 105 (1846). 



2 'Mem. Geol. Surv.,' "Vert, of Pliocene Deposits," p. 15 (1891). 



3 ' Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.' (3), xiv, p. 358. 



4 'Brit. Foss. Mamm. and Birds,' p. 89 (1846). 



5 'Mem. G-eol. Surv.,' "Vert, of Forest Bed Series," pp. 5—16 (1882). 



6 Fig., ibid., pi. i (1). 7 Fig., ibid., pi. i (2). 

 8 Fig, ibid., pi. i (3). 



