BRITISH BEARS AND WOLVES. 
249 
On the authority of Dr. Eay * it is stated to have been one 
of the beasts of the chase in North Wales, and is believed by 
Pennant to have left traces of its former presence in the name 
Pennarth, or bear’s head. But however this may be, the 
animal doubtless became extinct in our island before the close 
of the eleventh century. f 
The history of the sojourn in Europe of the TJvsus Arctos is, 
as we have seen, clearly ascertained. The animal made .its ap- 
pearance in Britain after the glacial epoch had passed away, 
and lived on uninterruptedly down to the present day. The 
fact that it disappeared before the tenth century from Britain, 
while it still held possession of considerable areas in France 
and Germany, implies that the state of agriculture here was 
higher than that of those two countries at the time. It could 
not exist without long stretches of uncultivated lands. At the 
time of the Norman conquest huge forests overshadowed a con- 
siderable portion of Great Britain, to an extent which as yet 
has not been properly realised by any historian, but neverthe- 
less the hunter at that time had so completely ransacked their 
recesses, that he had extirpated the bear, and thus prepared 
the way for the farmer. At the present day it lives on most 
of the high mountains of Europe, but is annually becoming 
more scarce. In 1852, according to Lord Clermont, five were 
seen together in the Engadine. The animal ranges throughout 
Northern Siberia, and is probably represented by two varieties 
in North America. 
The following table represents the range in line of all the 
four British species. 
Pre-glacial Post-glacial Pre-historic Historic 
Ursus Arvernensis . . x — — — 
TJ. spelceus . . . x x — — 
TJ.ferox .... x — — 
TJ. Arctos ... x x x 
* Raii, Syn. Quad. 214. 
t The reputed efficacy of bear’s grease in “ strengthening the roots of the 
hair ” may perhaps be a superstition that points back to the time when 
the animal was hunted in Britain. It was an important ingredient in many 
kinds of ointment in the Middle Ages, and, mixed either with the burnt 
head of a hare , or a burnt mouse and honey, was supposed to cure baldness. 
(See “ Gesner, Nat. Hist.,” folio, vol. i. p. 949). It is very remarkable that 
the bear should be singled out as ranking far higher than the rest of the 
beasts of the chase, and as an object of reverence, throughout nearly the 
whole of the northern Euro- Asiatic continent, and the northern regions of 
America. The Laps make almost a religious ceremonial of going out to 
the bear-hunt and the return (“ Lapponia, Scheffer,” Frankfort, 4to. 1672), 
and carefully bury the bones of the bear. The Tunguzes of the Amoor 
treat it, when slain, with religious respect, and the Red Indians ask pardon 
of the dead animal for being compelled to kill it. 
