THE BEAR. 41

also enables it to climb without difficulty. The teeth of the
bear are comparatively small and blunt, consequently not
well adapted for feeding on flesh in its fresh state; and this
agrees with the known fact, that the bear never attacks
living animals, if it can find food more easily managed.

Bears of some species or other are to be met with in
every latitude. In Europe, Asia, and America, they are
pretty widely diffused, but are rarely found in ‘Africa: in-
deed they appear more suited to the cold or temperate
climates, and here accordingly they are seen in their greatest
vigour and perfection. They do not seem to extend to the
southern hemisphere, excepting perhaps in the Andes, where
there is a great variety of climate; none have been dis-
covered in New Holland. Bears live chiefly in dens and
eaves, or in hollow trees: they hybernate according to the
climate, and during the period of torpor of course cease to
eat, living on the accumulation of fat they have acquired
during the time of activity, and making their reappearance
in a very lean and exhausted condition.

The Brown Bear (Ureus Arctos) is so called from its pre-
vailing colour, but this colour varies through every shade,
from sooty black to dirty white. It is found in almost
every climate, from the shores of the Frozen Ocean to the