• CHAPTER II. 
ORDER CARNIVORA— A CHAPTER ON BEARS— THE BLACK BEAR— A 
NIGHT’S SPORT IN LOUISIANA— THE GRIZZLY BEAR— CAPTAIN 
MARCY’S DESCRIPTION OF IT— THE POLAR BEAR— ITS HABITS 
AND PECULIARITIES. 
The family next in order is the Carnivora, or flesh devour- 
ing. They fulfil their destined office in the scheme of creation 
by checking excess in the progress of life, and thus maintain- 
ing, as it were, the balance of power in the animal world. 
They are characterised by having six conical front teeth in 
each jaw — the molars formed for cutting and tearing, rather 
than grinding. Of these, the Bears will engross our first 
attention. 
Description . — Teeth adapted for either flesh or vegetable 
food ; limbs thick and stout ; gait heavy and sluggish ; feet 
broad ; head large ; tail very short. 
There are only three species of this animal found here, 
viz. : the Black, the Grizzly, and the Polar or White Bear, 
though four are usually described ; but the Brown Bear is not 
to be ranked as an inhabitant of this northern continent; 
though it has frequently been mentioned by travellers, yet 
there is abundant reason to believe that they have mistaken 
the young of the Black Bear, the accounts of their being 
seen having been confined to the regions where the black or 
grizzly bear are found. The bear is an animal of great 
strength and ferocity, passing a great portion of the winter 
in a state of torpidity and inaction, in dens or hollow trees. 
The Black Bear ( Ursus Americanus') is peculiar to this 
country, his range extending from the shores of the Arctic 
Sea to the southern extremity of the continent ; his food 
principally consists of grapes, wild fruits, the acorns of the 
B 
