Copy 2

Animals in menageries / By William Swainson.

  • William Swainson
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animals in menageries / By William Swainson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    64/388 (page 56)
    The colour of an old male, killed on the shores of the Arctic Sea, was nearly of a uniform yellowish brown, except on the forehead and back, where the tips of the fur were paler. The fur, which was straight, and of the fineness of coarse wool, was giving place to a thin coat of blackish hair. Its forehead was broad and slightly convex, and the arch of the orbit rose conspi- cuously at the root of the nose, which was straight: the legs were long, and the size of the claws inter- mediate between those of the black and the grisly bears ; they projected beyond the hairs, and were more pointed than those of the latter. The following were the prin- cipal dimensions : — From the nose to the root of the tail, five feet two inches ; the tail, six inches: height, from the sole of the fore foot to the top of the shoulder, two feet nine inches; the hind quarters were three inches lower.* We are principally induced to consider this a distinct species, and to name it accordingly, from the difference between the profile as above stated, and that of the, European brown bear, indicating a corre- sponding diversity in the form of their skulls. Tur Buack Evropean Bear. | Ursus Europzus, Cuvier. The black bear, the second species found on the continent of Europe, was long confounded with another of a similar colour, but which is now ascertained to be peculiar to America. From this cause, we can find no authentic documents to illustrate the history of the pre- sent species, since naturalists, in describing its manners, &c., have blended it with the black bear of America, subsequently noticed ; neither do we find any mention of the particular parts of the continent of Europe where it now exists, M. Cuvier states, that he never saw more than a single living individual, which he afterwards dissected. It was of considerable magnitude. ‘The colour of the * North. Zool.