CARNIVORA. 
Q33 
he adds, that they are licked into shape (hanc 
lambendo paulatim figurant) ; and although the 
opinion is now perfectly negatived, the words un- 
licked cub are still sometimes used as a figure of 
speech. Mr. Pennant states, as a fact, that in their 
winter retreat they are sustained by sucking their 
paws ; and that the females, when pregnant, hide 
themselves in the most obscure places, in order that 
the males may not devour their young. Both these 
statements, however, are certainly erroneous ; it is 
true, that, in the autumn, they become exceedingly 
fat, and in this condition retire to their winter quar- 
ters, whence they emerge much reduced in weight ; 
but it does not follow, that the exhalent particles they 
can procure from any part of their own body con- 
tain qualities, which would at all serve the purpose 
of sustaining animal life. They may lick the paws, 
as cats do, probably from cleanliness, indulgence, or 
habit, but not for sustenance. Both sexes retire in 
the winter; and the period of parturition of the 
female is in the spring, after a gestation of seven 
months. She produces from one to five young at a 
time. 
Bears feed chiefly on vegetable' substances, and 
eat flesh only occasionally ; they will, however, some- 
times destroy the live stock of a farm-yard, as also 
fish, and are thought to suck the blood ; they are 
also very fond of honey, and show some agility, not- 
withstanding their clumsy make, in mounting trees 
wherein the bees may have a magazine of it. Their 
R 
