The National tribune., 1889-10-31

in nearly the same plane. Besides these char
acteristics, the claws are black, and the soles
of the feet which are covered with fur to pre-
vent slipping on the ice, are elongated to one
sixth the length of the body, a feature by
which the inevitable awkwardness of the
plantigrade tread is exaggerated This bear is,
however, aquatic in his habits, and the only
one of the UrsidR who is so, although Col.
Markham and others speak of the Black Hima-
layan species as "rapid and powerful swim
mers." Owing TO the greater differentiation
and more complete innervaton effected by
natural selection In the muscular apparatus of
the Ice bear, his motions are more rapid than
those of any other animal of the samo order.
Formerly it was supposed that Polar bears
were completely carniyorous, but IL Is now
known that they consume large quantities OF
marine grasses. Seals, however, are their prin-
cipal prey. and it has chiefly been the pursuit
of these creatures which has developed the
lcngthcned neck, more rapid motions, and
other dinerential traits attaching to the animal
in question. The seal is an air-breathing,
warm blooded mammal like the bear himself,
with whom certain semi-aquatic forms such as
the otter and sea otter connect him, but the
entire fern has been modified to enable it TO
live in the water. Again, like bears seals arc
carnivorous. aud in this trait they and their
allies, the'walruses and sca.lons, coincide,
ALTHOUGH THE KIND OF ANIMAL FOOD THEY
SONbUhE
is not the same. In order to sleep aud sun him
self, the seal comes TO shore or chambers on an
ice foe, and il is there, though not necessarily
So that tho Polar bear captures him. Observ-
ing the phocid basking in n convenient position,
the bear swims beneath the surface of the water,
occasionally prOtrnding his nose for air, until
within attacking distance, and then tho seal is
generally doomed; because, being more agile
than his prey, and an expert diver after sal
. III .Int tInn tuna hN 10 in
pursuit of should founder into the water, since
capture is as readily made there rs on land or
ice.
For the most part, only two cubs arc pro-
duced at BIRTH aud the gravid female alone
hybernatcs, which she does in snow.cave.
Many stories illustrative of the natural aifec-
tion exhibited by these animals are told by
Arctic voyagers, as well as many others relating
to their sagacity aud ferocious temper. 1t is
said that the Samoyeds have succeeded in do
mcsticating the White bear, and that in such
instances his temper is reliable, and that ho
lives on terms of amity with their dogs. Sam'l
Lockwood, in the Standard Natural History,
cites case in which q captive bear of this kind
having been given some cOcoanuts and being
unable to open them, experimental with the
refractory objects until it hit upon the device
of dashing them against the bars of its cage.
There is a good deal in this anecdOte which
does not appear at first sight, but evidently the
act implied a process widely different from that
which with any propriety could be called in
stinctive.
In general the accounts given of the Polar
bear in narratives of modern explorations with
In the Arctic Circle relate to animals that had
been brought 10 bay, and who then defended
themselves naturally. This Is not so much the
case with those of an earlier day. Without
going back so far as Octher and Wolstan. who
might have heard how White bears behaved
themselves from the sixth 10 the ninth century,
or even referring TO Bishop Pontoppidan,
prelate
MUCH TOO PARTIAL To MONSTERS TO SUIT THE
PRESENT TASTE,
there is one account of voyages made for the
discovery OF northeast passage 10 China dur
ing the last quarter of the 10Th century that, so
far as adventures with bears are concerned,
stands by itself The gallant Hollander Ba-
rentz, while wintering OIL the frozen sea, sus-
tanned assaults from them, which. told in his
simple aud earnest style, match anything that
has been written about wild beasts Again aud
again they attacked his hut, tried to tear IL
down, aud forced It's scuryy.stricken inmates
TO fight for their lives. When the leo brokeu up,
aud they were roiitting their ship for the re-
turn voyage, White bears tro0ped about the
bark, often cut off communication between 10
and the Winter quarters, and on several occa.
sions actually stOrmed the vessel. All this,
also, without provocaton. and with deter
mined ferocity unparalleled except In the case
of certain assaults by wolves in Swedish Lap
land and on the Siberian Steppes.
In conclusion, 1T may be said that all the ami.
mails spoken of were true bears. That is 20 say,
all bad like dental formula, moiars with tri.
turating crowns, jaws so articniatcd as 10 allow
lateral motion, alimentary tracts admitting of
the digestion Of mixed food. aud plantigrade
feet.
l.. a a.
themselves structnrally with arctoid forms in
which common observation could dotect no re-
semblauce-with Coon bears on the one side,
and the Mustela arcIoids, or Weasel bears, upon
the other. But their ancestry stretches back
into the early Tertiary, where we meet with
the fossil Arctocy0n the almost brainleas bear
dog Of the Eocenc; in the Piioccne with Hyg.
narctos, parent form of the hyGna and dog
hall dog, half bear, "A composite monster, strange
and grim and terrible 10 behold. Later came
the great Cave bear OF Europe aud America In
the PleistOsene age who, no doubt, made havoc
amid our caye-dwelling predecessors, when
the saber-toothed lion aud woolly rhinocefos
r0amed along the Thames aud Seine, and tho
reindeer, musksheop aud mammoth ranged
over Central Europe.
Then man, with stone AK head Fixed into n
split stick, flint dagger, aud other weapons
equally rude and inefficient stood toward the
great carnivora in even a worse position than
the Hindu ryOt now does toward the tiger, or
the members of broken tribe in Africa toward
the lion. Strange tragedies must have fro
quently Oceurrcd-trHgedies such as those i'm
aginary ones depicted by Berthet might well
have paralleled, and probably often exceeded in
horror. The pictures of the lives OF Stone Age
men which may be seen in the Anthropological
Hall at the Smithsonian Institution, are not
| sketches from fancy. They were not taken
from nature directly, bat they faithfully rep.
resent events which inevitably took place. II
is but very lately that man in few countries
has either acquired sufficient control over nat
ural forces To cease to be almost completely
passive under their action, or has so augmented
his naturally feeble powers by invention, as 10
cope on terms of equality with the more dan
gerous wild beasts.
ITO be coHtinued)