NATURAL HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF BEARS. 
253 
for nearly half the year, and dividing the remainder between a 
circumscribed feeding ground and the pool, until, dying in its 
lair, the body either crumbles into decay, or is partly or en- 
tirely covered over by calcareous drippings from the roof of the 
cavern, or by debris washed in from the decomposing surfaces 
above or around the external opening. Upon the top of this 
deposit other generations of bears might appear and disappear, 
and so on for ages, the retreat becoming either the abode of the 
parturient female, or the hybernating den of one or many in- 
dividuals. Let us see how such data apply to bygone epochs, 
as displayed in the ancient bone caverns of England. 
In the report on the exploration of Brixham Cave, near 
Torquay, Devonshire,* * * § Mr. Busk has determined, from devia- 
tions in dental characters and size, what he believes to be no 
less than three species of bears, viz. the great cave bear (U. 
spelceus ), the grizzly bear ( U. ferox fossilis ), and the common 
brown bear (JJ. arctos vel U. priscus). One circumstance 
connected with the ursine remains struck him as remarkable, 
and that was “ the number of instances in which bones obvi- 
ously belonging to the skeleton of the same animal were found 
collected together in one spot,” thus indicating that the 
carcases had been either conveyed into the cavern by other 
carnivores, or that the bears had died there. Again, with 
reference to this ancient British emporium of extinct animals, 
we find him adding, “ There can be little doubt that amongst 
the bears’ relics, as with those of the hyena, some at least must 
have belonged to animals which habitually used the cavern as 
a place of refuge, and especially, perhaps, at the time of partu- 
rition, and when they were nursing their young.” 
In further support of the latter statement it may be observed 
that the young are invariably born before the sh e-bear leaves 
her winter retreat, and that they often accompany the parent 
for two years. Of course, a den or cavern may at any time 
become the retreat of divers carnivorous quadrupeds ; much 
depending on how the various sorts predominate. Thus, for in- 
stance, in a country where lions, tigers, hyenas, bears, and so 
forth are common, it might j ust happen that one or other will 
retain alternate possession of the retreat and drag its prey 
thereunto, so that the exuviae might get intermingled. In 
Great Britain, in the days when such caves as Kirkdale,f Brixham, 
Settle , X the Gower Caves § of South Wales, and Kent’s Hole,|| 
* “Philosophical Transactions, 1 ’ vol. clxiii. , p. 471. 
f Buckland, “ Reliquiae Diluvianse.” 
I Tiddeman, “ Geological Magazine,” vol. x. 
§ Falconer, “Palaeontological Memoirs/ 1 vol. ii., p. 525. 
|| Vivian’s “ Cavern Researches.” 
