542 The Hiftory of A N I M A L S. 
fhort, thick, and in a manner fhapelefs: the claws are very firmly united to the ex¬ 
tremities of the toes ; it has no tail, but yet it has a lengthened os coccygis: the body 
'is, in reality, flender, though it appears enormoufly bulky, under tha? vad load of 
fur with which it it is covered. 
The bear is a native of America, and of many of the northern parts of Europe 
Toward the pole it is very large and white; in other places it is fmaller, and of a 
black or rudy brown. All the writers on animals have named it, and all under the 
common name Urfus. 
Urfus cauda elongata . 
Tie Urfus , with an elongated tail. 
This creature grows to the fize of a large madiff-dog, or more, and is bulky, in 
proportion: the head is long, of an oval form, and narrow; the eyes are final!; \he 
nofirils are large, and the mouth is furnifhed in a very formidable manner with teeth : 
the legs are fhort, but they are remarkably thick; the feet are large, and are ipread 
upon the ground'in walking; the creature treading upon the heel as the human fpe- 
cies, not in a more raifed manner, on the anterior part of the foot, as the red of the 
quadrupeds. 
This is frequent in the northern parts of Europe. Wormius has defcribed it. 
FELIS. 
J " A H E fore-teeth of the Felis are fmall, obtufe, and equal: the tongue is armed 
JL f kmd 0 f fpjcula^ which have their points bent backwards: the feet are 
formed for climbing, and the claws may be drawn back at the creature’s pleafure. 
Felis cauda elongata floccofa , collo piliato . 
Fhe Felis , with an elongated floccofe tail , 
and a mane on the neck . 
This is the dronged and the fierced of all quadrupeds: it is taller than the larged: 
maftiff, and more bulky, but the fore-part is over big, in proportion to the hinder, 
where it is lank, and wants that majefty of appearance it has in front. 
The head is large, and the bread broad; the bignefs of the head is owing to the 
great quantity of mufcular flefh which covers the fkull, and to the breadth of the jaw¬ 
bones: the width of the bread is only apparent; the bread is, in reality, narrower 
and more compreffed than in the common dog, but the quantity of long hair that 
hangs over this, gives it the external breadth : the neck is very thick, diff, and rigid: 
the antients fuppofed, that it confided in the fceleton of one continued bone, but that 
is not truth, it is formed of vertebrae or joints as regularly as in other animals; only 
the fpinofe apophyfes of thofe joints are longer than in other animals, and the liga¬ 
ments by which they are fadened to one another remarkably firm. It has been a vul¬ 
gar opinion alfo, that the bones are folid, and have no cavity, but this is alfo an er¬ 
ror ; the bones of the legs are indeed remarkably thick, but they have the natural 
cavity, and have marrow in it, as in other animals. 
The tongue is very long and large, and is all the way covered with a kind of fpi- 
culas; thefe are hollow at their bafe, fharp at the ends, and all point backwards or 
toward the throat: the heart of many creatures of the fiercer kinds is fmall, but in 
the lion it is remarkably large; the whole dru&ure of the creature is formed for 
drength : the legs are vadly thick and drong ; the mufcles of the whole body vad and 
tough ; the claws are of a furprifing length and thicknefs, and, when they are not ex¬ 
erted for fervice, are drawn back in a very furprifing manner, fo that they fcarce ap¬ 
pear : the eyes are large and fierce, and the teeth are very long and terrible : the fur 
of 
