14 NORTHERN ZOOLCGY. 
[8.] 1. Ursus Americanus. (Pallas.) American Black-Bear. 
Black Bear. PENNANT. Arct. Zool., vol.i. p. 57, and Introduction, p. cxx. Hist. Quad., vol. ii, p. 11. 
WarveENn. United States, vol. i. p. 195. 
Gopman. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 194. 
Ursus Americanus. Patxas. Spicel. Zool. vol. xiv. p. 6—26. 
Harian. Fauna, p.5l. 
Sass. CHEPEWYAN INDIANS. 
Musquaw (pl. musquawuck). Cree InpD1ans, or, when reference is made to the black colour of the fur, it is termed 
cuskeeteh musquaw. ‘The cinnamon-coloured variety is named oosaw-wusquaw, the first letter of the proper 
name being altered euphonie causa. 
Mucquaw. Axtconauins. Maconsh (a young bear.) IDEM. 
The different species of Bears resemble each other so strongly in form ; and 
colour, when described by general and frequently indefined terms, affords so un- 
certain a mark of discrimination, that much doubt has arisen as to what are species 
and what merely varieties. These doubts can be removed only by a rigid com- 
parison of the skeletons of the different kinds, combined with careful observation 
of the habits of the animals in their native retreats, and a more attentive consider- 
ation of their geographical distribution than has hitherto been given. Buffon, 
classing the American and European Bears together, distinguishes two species of 
land Bear differing from each in colour and manners*. Naturalists of the present 
day are generally of opinion that there are two or more species of Bear in the 
northern parts of the New World, differmg specifically from those of the old 
continent. The Polar Bear is perhaps the only species which is common to both 
continents, but it may with justice be considered as a sea animal, inhabiting the 
ice floating between them. 
The Black Bear of America was first described as a distinct species by Pallas, 
and with reason, although some late writers continue to confound it with the 
Black Bear of Europe f. It has a milder disposition, and lives more on vegetable 
* “Tl faut distinguer,” dit-il, ‘¢ deux espéces dans les ours terrestres, Jes bruns et les noirs, lesquels n’ayant pas les 
mémes appetits naturels, ne peuvent pas étre considérés comme deux espéces distinctes et séparées. De plus, U’ours 
blanc terrestre n’est qu’une variété de l’une ou de l’autre de ces espéces. Nous comprenons ici sous la dénomination 
d’ours bruns, ceux qui sont bruns, fauves, roux, rougeatres, et par celle d’ours noirs ceux qui sont noiratres aussi bien 
que tout @ fait noirs.”—Burron, Hist. Nat., vol. viii. p, 248. 
+ Baron Cuvier, in his elaborate work Sur les Ossemens Fossiles, distinguishes the ursus niger Europeus from the 
European Brown Bear, or ursus arctos of authors. The ursus niger has the frontal bone of its cranium flattened, 
especially transversely, and separated from the temporal depressions by well marked ridges, which unite behind at an 
acute angle to form an elevated sagittal crest. Its fur is blackish, rough, and more or less woolly. The well marked 
depressions and ridges of the cranium giving lodgment and origin to the strong muscles of the lower jaw, shew that 
the Black Bear of Europe is more decidedly a beast of prey than the Brown one, in which respect they differ from the 
bears of corresponding colours which inhabit the New World. 
