sive. According to Lieutenant Pike, it extends southward as far as Mexico,* and it is known to inhabit the Rocky Mountains and their eastern plains, at least as far as the sixty-first degree of north latitude, and in the lastnamed districts it occurs most frequently in such woody regions as are interspersed with open prairies and grassy hills.t

Although unwilling to detain our readers much longer in such uncouth company, we cannot close our account of American bears without a short record of the white or Polar species, the Ursus maritimus of naturalists. This great prowler of the Arctic snows attains to a higher latitude than any other known quadruped, and dwells indeed by preference

"In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice."

Its southern limit appears to be somewhere about the fiftyfifth parallel. It is well known at York Factory, on the southern shore of Hudson's Bay, more especially during the autumn season, to which it is liable to be drifted during summer from the northward on the ice. It is a truly ice-haunting and maritime species, and occurs along a vast extent of shore over the Arctic regions, never entering into wooded countries except by accident during the prevalence of great mists, nor showing itself at more than a hundred miles' distance from the sea. Indeed it rarely travels inland more than a few miles, because it is a strong and persevering swimmer, and probably feels conscious that when removed from its accustomed element it loses the advantage of its own peculiar and most powerful locomotive energies. The Polar bear is well known in Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla, and was met with by Captain Parry among the North Georgian Islands. It seems, however, to decrease in numbers to the westward of Melville Island. In proof of this it may be mentioned that Dr Richardson met with none between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers; and

* Travels on the Missouri and Arkansaw, edited by Mr Rees. London, 1811.

The specimen in the Edinburgh Museum (of which I have published a coloured representation on the twenty-first plate of the first volume of my "Illustrations of Zoology") was killed on the plains at Carlton House in its second year. Its claws are black. In a mature condition these weapons are white, and necklaces made of them are much prized by the Indian warriors as proofs of prowess.

the Esquimaux informed Captain Franklin that white bears very rarely visited the coast to the westward of the Mackenzie. Along the Asiatic shores, on the other hand, they are not recorded as occurring to the eastward of the Tgchukotzkoi Noss.* Neither were they seen by Captain Beechey during his recent voyage to the Icy Cape, although their skins appear to have been procured amongst other peltry from the natives on the coast of Hotham's Inlet, Kotzebue's Sound.† It thus appears that this great maritime species occurs very generally along all the frozen shores within the Arctic Circle, with the exception of about thirty-five degrees of longitude on either side of Point Beechey, in which it is comparatively rare; and that in Hudson's Bay, and along the northern coast of Labrador, and the nearer portions of East and West Greenland, it occurs not unfrequently six or eight degrees to the south of the Arctic Circle.+

We deem it unnecessary to describe the external characters or appearance of this familiarly-known animal.||

Passing over the racoon (Procyon lotor), the American badger (Meles Labradoria), the wolverene (Gulo luscus), the common weasel (Mustela vulgaris), the ermine or stoat(M.erminea), the vison-weasel (M. vison), the pinemartin (M. martes), the pekan or fisher (M. Canadensis), and the Hudson's Bay skunk (Mephitis Americana), we shall devote a page to the history of the American otters. The Canada otter (Lutra Canadensis of Sabine§) frequents the neighbourhood of falls and rapids during the winter season; and, when its accustomed haunts are frozen up, it will travel a great way over the snow in search of open water. In its food and habits it bears a close re

*Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 62.

+Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits, to co-operate with the Polar Expeditions. London, 1831.

Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 344.

One of the finest specimens in Europe is preserved in the Edinburgh College Museum. It was shot during one of Sir Edward Parry's expeditions, and was transmitted to Professor Jameson by order of the Lords of the Admiralty. For anecdotes illustrating the history and habits of the Polar bear, we beg to refer the reader to the First Volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, entitled "Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Re gions."

§ Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 653.

semblance to the European species, but it may be distinguished by the fur on the belly being of the same shining brown colour as that on the back. It is also a much larger animal, and has a proportionately shorter tail.

The sea-otter (Lutra marina) belongs to the subgenus Enhydra of Dr Fleming.* It exhibits the manners rather of a seal than of a land animal. It resides chiefly in the water; and, according to Pennant, has been sometimes met with more than a hundred leagues from shore. It is distinguished from the fresh-water species, among other characters, by the larger size and greater strength of its fore paws. The fur varies in beauty according to the age and condition of the animal. Those in highest estimation have the belly and throat interspersed with brilliant silver hairs, while the other parts consist of a thick black coat, with a silky gloss of extreme fineness.

We have now to notice the wolves and dogs of America. The former may be called wild-dogs, and some of the latter are little better than semi-domesticated wolves. We shall not here enter into the question of the specific identity or distinction of the European and American species." The large brown wolf, described by Lewis and Clarke as inhabiting not only the Atlantic countries but the borders of the Pacific and the mountains in the vicinity of the Columbia River, appears to form the closest approximation to the wolf of the Scandinavian Alps and the Pyrenees. It is not found on the Missouri to the westward of the Platte. Wolves were extremely numerous in some of the countries traversed by our overland expeditions. They varied greatly in colour; some being pure white, others totally black, but the greater proportion were characterized by a mixture of gray, white, and brown. Dr Richardson is of opinion that, however coloured, they possess certain characters in common in which they differ from the European race. "On the Barren Grounds, through which the Coppermine River flows, I had more than once an opportunity of seeing a single wolf in close pursuit of a rein-deer; and I witnessed a chase on Point Lake when covered with ice, which terminated in a fine buck rein-deer being overtaken by a large white wolf, and disabled by a bite in the flank. An Indian,

* Philosophy of Zoology, vol. ii. p. 187.