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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
were tenanted by wild quadrupeds, many of which are either 
now extinct or have been repelled to distant lands, it appears, 
if we are to judge not only from the variety but also the dimen- 
sions of many of the remains, that the British area then, whe- 
ther insular or connected with the Continent, was overrun by 
the larger mammalia, to wit, the lion, hyena, bear, deer, hippo- 
potamus, rhinoceros, elephant, ox, and bison, not to speak of 
hosts of smaller mammals. Now, on the Himalayas the chief 
predatory quadrupeds have more or less a hard struggle for exist- 
ence, owing to the comparative paucity of, and difficulty in 
procuring subsistence as compared with herds of deer and the 
like in less alpine situations. The plantigrade bear is especially 
at a disadvantage in this respect, and we need not therefore be 
astonished to find that it subsists chiefly on vegetable food. 
Hence modifications in the characters and position of the teeth 
are likely to occur under the changed habits of life ; indeed, 
considered as an exponent of discrepancies in the dental con- 
struction of extinct mammals, it is of the utmost importance 
to fully realise similar contingencies. Thus, in relation to the 
food of recent species, we find the grizzly bear still clinging to the 
haunts of the buffalo on the prairies and plains of the West, but 
destined at no distant period to be swept off the Continent, whilst 
the American black bear, essentially a vegetable feeder, will linger 
on just as may have happened in Europe with the cave bears 
and the Ursus arctos. Indeed, what is now going on in the New 
World in relation to the extinction of many of the wild quad- 
rupeds, to wit, the bear, beaver, elk, &c., was accomplished in 
Europe before the historical period. But the statement is not 
quite correct that the black bear of North America is partial 
to vegetable food, inasmuch as both it and the barren-ground 
bear, when compelled by dearth of vegetable food, repair to the 
sea-shore and feed on marine animals ; moreover I have seen 
the brown bear on the Himalayas, soon after coming forth from 
the long winter siesta, make attacks on cattle and horses, and 
when hard pressed for early plants which had not had time to 
spring up, even devour the carcase of one of its own species. 
In fact, bears will eat almost any description of food. 
With reference to their constitutional peculiarities. The 
hybernating species seem to possess very sensitive nervous centres 
both as regards extremes of heat and cold ; even the Polar bear 
is said to occasionally fall into a lethargic condition in mid- 
winter. No doubt, therefore, from the abundant remains met 
with in caves, that the extinct forms also hybernated ; not from 
scarcity of food, but on account of climate and their particular 
organization. One of the most trying ordeals in the Canadian 
forest during midsummer is the annoyance occasioned by mos- 
quitoes and the still more venomous black fly. Neither man 
