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for another chance. They dive with much adroitness, and can remain under water for the space of a minute. Their fur repels the water from their bodies, as while they are submerged, they appear to be almost white. When pursued by the weasel, they drop into the water, and pass to the opposite side."

The other species is very similar in habits and manners to the preceding, and must be considered as a recent addition to our Fauna.

To the genus Sorex succeeds one termed Mygale, which includes the Desmans, allied in habits to the water shrews, but distinguished by a tail, scaly and flattened at the sides. One species, called the RUSSIAN MUSK RAT, from its odour, is common along the lakes and rivers of the southern portion of that empire. Another small species is found along the streams of the Pyrennees. Canada produces the SCALOPE, (the type of the genus Scalops,) to which Linnæus gave the name of Sorex aquaticus; but which is now divided from the true shrews.

As our plan is only to prepare the reader for entering upon a truly scientific mode of studying this delightful science, we shall be excused for our discursive mode of proceeding. We cannot, however, before leaving the Insectivora, omit a genus containing an animal whose interesting habits and manners claim our peculiar notice. We allude to the COMMON MOLE, (Talpa Europœa.)

The Mole (if not the sole, at least the typical species of the genus Talpa,) is confined to the western portions of Europe, where it is extensively spread, with a few single exceptions. The ancient Greeks do not appear to have been acquainted with it. Aristotle, in his description of the Mole found in Greece, and which he calls Spalax, (Eaλa,) expressly asserts its total deficiency with respect to the organs of vision. Now, as the organs of vision, although small, buried in the fur, and rudimentary, still exist in the Mole, (notwithstanding many persons in the present day believe it to be altogether destitute of them,) this great observer of nature has been accused of a gross mistake, which superficial observation would at once have corrected. The spalax, however, is not the Mole, which, if it ever occurs in Greece, is extremely uncommon; but a little subterraneous quadruped, somewhat resembling the Mole in its habits, belonging to the order Rodentia, and known to modern naturalists under the name of the mole rat, an animal which, indeed, by its blindness, exonerates Aristotle from the charge of ignorance: no external eye is visible, but beneath the skin there is to be found a little black grain, a rudiment, as it were, of this organ, which must be quite useless as it regards vision, since the skin passes over it without even becoming thinner, or being in the least degree deficient of fur. That modern discoveries should prove the truth and accuracy of an ancient writer, after much discredit, is a circumstance well deserving record in the archives of science; and an important lesson may be gleaned from it, which to the young is especially valuable; namely, how needful it is to suspend their judgment, and instead of giving a

[CARNIVORA.

hasty or rash opinion, without the thorough knowledge of a subject, to defer until after mature investigation, and even then to remember the injunction, "Be not wise in your own conceit." How ready are we to consider the views and opinions of others erroneous, and even perhaps treat them with contempt, thereby, in reality, convicting ourselves of ignorance and presumption! "Truly, this man was the Son of God!" was extorted from the incredulous soldiers at the crucifixion of our blessed Redeemer ; and thus in our days the men of the world, the careless and the thoughtless, who are dreaming life away, are too apt to consider religion a superstition, and without investigating the subject, deem those who profess it, those who are striving for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, mere enthusiasts, to be pitied for their errors, or despised for their folly; while they themselves are in the darkness of ignorance, and dead to that knowledge which would open new scenes, unfold new hopes, and make them wise unto salvation. Such a man called out of darkness into light, convicted of his former errors, will say, "Whereas I was once blind, now I see."

Although the term "Mole" occurs in the Scriptures, its reference to the present animal is more than doubtful, the Mole not being a native of Syria, and the original word also being variously translated.

While most Mammalia enjoy the light of day, and the freedom of earth's varied surface, revelling in air and sunshine, this little miner passes his days, and partakes of all the enjoyments of existence in darkness and confinement. His happiness and his home are limited to the subterraneous galleries which he excavates with admirable skill and industry. For his appointed lot the providence of his Maker has expressly framed him, and we can hardly bring forward a more beautiful example of means, exhibited in the minutiæ of animal structure, proclaiming the end to be obtained, than is presented by this little creature. The Mole is essentially a miner: the fore feet, which are broad and muscular, are constructed like hands, with an oblique direction, so as to make the inner edge the lowest part, thereby forming more complete paddles for throwing the soil behind it; the fingers, scarcely divided, are five in number, and armed with strong flat nails; the arm is short, its muscles and those of the shoulders being very powerful; the hinder limbs are small; the body is round, cylindrical, and compact; the snout prolonged and pointed; the fur soft, close, and velvety. The sense of hearing is very delicate, although there is no external conch to the ears, and the auditory opening concealed by the fur is small; a valve, capable of being raised or lowered like an eyelid, the mechanism of which is evident if the fur be shaved away, closes this aperture at the will of the animal, so as to exclude any particles of earth or sand. The eye is exceedingly small, and buried in the fur for protection, but may be uncovered at pleasure, so as to be brought into use when needed during its occasional visits to the light of "our world." The power of vision is, however, of the most limited degree; for though the optic nerve be present, as Cuvier believes, still as no faculty is bestowed uselessly,

The skeleton of this animal, of which we give an accurate drawing, is very peculiar, and justifies our observation, as it regards the adaptation of form and structure, as well as of the senses, to the allotted mode of life.

The skeleton of every animal, we hardly need observe, being the basis of its organization, is also the index of its habits; and in no instance is this accordance more displayed than in the present. If, then, we look at the skeleton of the Mole, we shall find its great development manifested in its anterior portion, the pelvis and inferior extremities being small and reduced; in fact, the muscular powers, and the framework for supporting those powers, are thrown as far forward as possible, so as to concentrate the whole force and energy in the anterior portion. The chest, strongly environed with bone and muscle, is large and capacious, enclosing the vital organs; namely, the heart and lungs, which are of great comparative volume, indicating by their development the energy of the muscular system. From the sternum, or breast-bone, an additional bone proceeds forwards, having a deep keel, like that of a bird, for the extensive attachment of the enormous pectoral muscles. The clavicles, or collar bones, are thick and short, and the humerus angular, and as broad as it is long, while the scapula, or blade bone, on each side is long and narrow. Now, by this construction of the sternum, the shoulders are consequently thrown far forward, and for a most important object, namely, in order that the volume of those muscles may be increased, the constant and powerful action of which the animal's instincts and mode of life require. The space between the humerus and the ribs, then, is filled up by the immense pectoral muscles; and in consequence of the distance between the short humerus, into the lower part of which they are inserted, and the ribs and sternum, whence they take their origin, not only is their volume greater, but their action different from what is seen in other mammalia. The course of their fibres is such as to lead them not to bring the arms closer to or across the chest, but to draw them downwards, and somewhat outwards, the action employed in digging. Mass of muscle gives strength; length, velocity of motion. Now,

the muscles for raising the arm at each stroke do not so much require strength as celerity, that no time be lost between each stroke; now, for this very purpose are the scapula elongated, that the muscles for raising the arm may have this requisite figure. The bones of the fore-arm are very strong, and the olecranon of the ulna is large and transverse, for the insertion of immense extensive muscles which act in conjunction with the pecto ral. The hands are large, broad, and thick, the bones being knit firmly and solidly together; the claws are enormous: these are the organs by which it throws up the earth. But the head is also an organ for digging or boring; it is flattened and elongated, and the cartilages of the nose are ossified, so as to form an additional bone; thus constituted as a borer, to make it still more effective, the ligament of the neck, (ligamentum nucha,) which passes down the spinous processes of the vertebræ, and is in other animals elastic, is here bone also, that the power of raising up the head and pushing with the snout may be increased, and the strain upon the neck better borne. Through whatever aperture the anterior parts pass, the hinder must necessarily follow. The pelvis is very small, and, excepting from situation, does not merit the name, as the organs usually contained in it here pass anterior to its pubic portion. The bones of the hind limbs are small and slender, and the feet, though furnished with claws, are feeble in comparison with the spadelike hands. The hinder parts, therefore, offer no impediment to the creature's progress along its narrow galleries, but yet have the requisite degree of strength, so as, on the other hand, not to be themselves in the way. In short, were we called upon to prove the design and attentive care of God, carried through his works, we would go into the fields, and point out the habits and manners of this little animal, and the fitness and express adaptation of the means with which it is provided.

When the Mole voluntarily emerges from its subterranean asylum, it is, in general, for the purpose of seeking a more favourable soil, in which to construct its halls and winding galleries. Rich and cultivated meadows, abounding in worms and other insects, are the localities of its choice,

where it sinks the shafts of its mines, as winter sets in, below the line to which the frost penetrates. In this season it is not less active than in summer, although the results of its labours are less obvious. Night, and the twilight hours of morning and evening, are the periods in which it chiefly exerts itself; and as spring approaches, softening the earth with showers, and calling the snowdrop and crocus from their winter sleep, the fresh-thrown hillocks of this "goodman delver" dot the green surface of the fields, and often so thickly, as to convert the level champaign into a mimic representation of mountain scenery, where "Apennine and Pyrennees branch out stupendous into distant lands."

The galleries of the Mole have numerous inter-communications; but its nest, where the female nurses her helpless young, from three to five in number, is formed in a vault, constructed with great care, the centre of many diverging passages, and made soft with leaves, grass, and the scales of bulbous roots. The parents afford a pattern of mutual affection and assistance.

The food of this animal consists of worms, insects, and, when it can obtain them, frogs, lizards, small birds, or quadrupeds; it is impatient of hunger, and cannot endure a fast of more than six hours without great exhaustion: an abstinence of twelve hours is said to produce death. The Mole is an expert swimmer, and will cross flooded grounds, ponds, or rivers, in quest of new and more attractive hunting grounds, and sometimes even will take to the water for the sake of enjoyment only. It requires to drink frequently, and a colony of these animals usually have a common run or passage to the nearest ditch or stream. At certain seasons the males fight desperately, the feebler often falling a sacrifice to the more powerful. The female breeds in April or May. Agriculturists are divided in opinion as to the benefit or injury which the Mole occasions; certain it is that it has its uses and its appointed work in the grand scheme of which it forms a part.

Passing from the Insectivora, the third family of Carnassiers presents itself. As the molar teeth are those by which the food and disposition of animals is most decidedly characterized, we here find them, as might be expected, exhibiting an according modification. They are of three sorts: 1. One or more small pointed teeth on each side, called "false molars ;" 2. These are followed by a tooth of large size and great strength, with elevated conical points, having sharp cutting edges for lacerating and dividing flesh; this tooth the French emphatically call "carnassiere," others "laniary molar;" 3. Behind this, one or two teeth, varying in size, with flat or tuberculated surfaces, forming the back teeth; these are called the "tuberculous molars," and are larger and more developed as the animal partakes the more of a vegetable regimen. The edges of the laniary teeth do not come in contact, but pass by each other like the blades of a pair of scissors.

The present assemblage of animals is essentially ferocious and sanguinary, maintaining a warfare of destruction, more or less unremitting, upon their fellow brutes, and many of them gifted with bodily powers which render them not only the

CARNIVORA.

terror of the forest, but formidable to man himself. Some, however, it is true, except when pressed by hunger, subsist almost entirely upon vegetable diet; and, as we have intimated, the proportion which obtains between the tuberculous surface and cutting edges of the molar teeth will give a standard by which to calculate the prevailing nature of the regimen: for the more completely thrown up into conical points with cutting edges the grinding teeth may be, and deficient in blunt tubercles studded along their surface, the more exclusively carnivorous is the appetite, and bloodthirsty the disposition; such are the true Carnivora, the larger species of which are thinly scattered, and driven more or less entirely from the haunts of civilized man. The necessity of maintaining personal security by warring against these scourges of their kind, in the earlier ages of men, when "the world was all before them where to choose," cannot be questioned; and well would it have been for the human race had that propensity for destruction, which stains our fallen nature, been limited in its exercise to the lion and bear; but, alas, as the earliest records of history prove, man, after subduing the forest to himself, and sprinkling the plains and hills with leaf-thatched huts, (the first faint dawnings of arts, agriculture, and commerce,) turned his hunting-spear upon his fellow, severed the bonds of brotherhood, and perpetuated causeless wars from generation to generation.

There is something in the human heart in its present fallen state, fearfully akin to the nature of the ferocious brute of the wilderness. The brute follows its instinct; but what has man to plead— man, whose reason entails upon him a moral responsibility for every action? What can he offer in extenuation of the desolations he has spread over the earth? The pages of history are stained with blood; they portray man in colours of the deepest dye, and few and far between are those softer touches which ameliorate the harshness of the picture, and on which we would pause to gaze, were it but to relieve us from the surrounding scenery of woe. And oh! how lovely, how beautiful, how doubly beautiful appears the character of the peaceful contemplative philosopher, the sage of olden times, the man of God, the Christian whose warfare is spiritual, contrasted with those heroes, so falsely called, who, in the gratification of mad ambition, have left their track through lands once happy and flourishing, reeking with the blood of slaughter, and their name written in gory characters, a watchword to succeeding generations; who, in the applause bestowed on courage and success, forget the ruin of cities blotted out for ever, or marked only by the "blackness of ashes;" forget the tears of widows and the cries of orphans, and, impelled as it were by the tiger-spirit "of the first-born Cain," echo praises to their warrioridols, inscribe their titles in the temples, and burn to imitate their example! Of these fearful propensities, and the atrocities to which they lead, the reader will find many horrid instances in the Polynesian Researches," which painfully show that, amidst the most lovely scenes of nature, man is vile," till the light of the gospel has shone around him, and the mild spirit of a mer

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To return to the Carnivora. The first section we find to be that of the Plantigrades, so called from their applying the entire sole to the ground, so as to have the free power of raising themselves on their hinder limbs or haunches, and maintaining with ease an upright position. There is a slowness and heaviness in their motions; their habits are generally nocturnal, and in the northern regions they usually pass the winter in lethargy. The Bears usher in the section, and may be considered as forming the connecting link between this family and those of the herbivorous mammalia; their claws are strong, blunt, and well adapted for climbing or digging, but not for lacerating; their molar teeth are obtuse, their tongues smooth, and their general contour thick and clumsy.

The BROWN BEAR, (Ursus arctos,) (see Engraving, No. 10,) formerly common in England, as well as over the whole of the European continent, is now confined to its more inaccessible and thinly inhabited regions, where rocks, glens, and forests still afford him a precarious abode. Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Poland, are the countries in which he is still plentiful; among the Alps, also, the thinly scattered remnants of his race, once numerous there, still linger. In the dense and gloomy forests of Scandinavia, the Bear attains

an

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enormous size. Mr. Lloyd states, in his 'Field Sports of the North," that he has killed one of the weight of four hundred and sixty pounds; but they have been known occasionally to exceed seven hundred. The diet of the Bear consists of roots, leaves, succulent plants, and various wild berries, with corn, honey, and ants, of which he is very fond.

Although often discovered taking up his quarters in the proximity of flocks and herds, he by no means proves so generally destructive a neighbour as might be expected: and Mr. Falk affirms, that Bears may reside for years in the neighbourhood of cattle without doing them any injury; though he adds, that "they will sometimes visit herds solely from the desire of prey;" and instances have been known of their climbing the roofs of cowhouses, which they have torn off in order to gain admittance to the poor animals confined within; these, after the slaughter, they have managed to carry away, by shoving or lifting through the aperture by which they themselves had entered. Their strength is indeed astonishingly great, as the fact attested by Mr. Nilsson proves, who asserts, that "a Bear has been seen walking on his hinder feet along a small tree that stretched across a river, bearing a dead horse in his fore-paws." Hunting the Bear is a favourite amusement in the north, though by no means unattended with danger. In Sweden it is usual for the hunters to form a ring, or cordon, surrounding a certain extent of country. The number of men engaged is often fifteen hundred, and the circumference of the space enclosed sixty miles. The circle is then gradually contracted, escape | being permitted for other animals, by which means the Bears are driven into a narrower and narrower compass, till the slaughter commences.

armed with spears and rifles. Numbers are also taken in traps. The flesh is much esteemed as food, and the hams and paws are great delicacies. The Bear swims well and fast, and is fond of bathing during the heat of summer; his climbing powers are well known: all who have visited the gardens of the Zoological Society have witnessed the feat of mounting the pole for the tempting morsel proffered as a reward. In descending a tree or precipice he always comes down backwards, much resembling a human being in his actions and cautious mode of proceeding. The habits of this animal are unsocial and solitary : he lives alone, and chooses his retreat in the deepest gloom or most inaccessible parts of the woods or rocks; here, during the severity of a northern winter, in some cleft or cave, or hollow tree, or, where these fail, in a moss-lined hut, constructed by himself of branches and leaves, he slumbers away the days in a state of almost lethargy, without food, and supported by the absorption of fat accumulated during the summer. When spring returns, lean, gaunt, and famished, he issues from his den, and, ravenous for food, is then especially to be dreaded.

America presents us with several species of Bear: the BLACK, (Ursus Americanus ;) the CINNAMON, most probably a variety; and the GRIZZLY, (Ursus ferox.)

The BLACK BEAR is smaller than the European species, lighter in its make, and with shorter and more glossy fur, which is much sought after as an article of commerce. In the year 1783, we learn that "ten thousand five hundred bear-skins were imported into England from the northern parts of America; and the number gradually increased until 1803, when it reached twenty-five thousand, the average value of each skin being estimated at forty shillings." This destruction has thinned the species, which, once common over North America, is on the eastern side now confined to the higher regions of Canada and the Rocky Mountains, but on the western coast is still abundant as far south as California.

Independent of the fur and general figure, the skull presents another ground of distinction between this and its European relative, being much narrower, the line of the forehead convex, and continued regularly without any break from the upper part of the head, and ending in a longer and more pointed muzzle.

The GRIZZLY BEAR is the most formidable and ferocious of the tribe, exceeding in size our European species. He is a native of the state of Missouri and the Rocky Mountains; his hair is long, harsh, and grizzled; his feet and paws are of enormous magnitude, and his strength is prodigious. The terror of the native tribes, he dwells the solitary monarch of his chosen ravine or dell, and bold must be the hunter that will venture to attack him in his strong-hold. Singularly tenacious of life, he has been known to receive five balls through the lungs and five through the body, not only without expiring on the spot, but swimming to a considerable distance, and

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surviving twenty minutes. Although his food is partly roots and vegetable substances, still his appetite is ravenous for flesh. He will slay the huge and shaggy bison, and drag the body to his den, there to satiate his appetite, or dig a pit for its reception, as a store of food for another day.

An animal of this species, distinguished by his enormous size and ferocity, once formed an attractive object in the gardens of the Zoological Society; and although he had been in confinement twenty years in the Tower of London, (to the collection of which he formerly belonged,) and continued attempts had been made to coax him into a gentler mood, his morose and indomitable temper remained as unaltered as if he had been still at large, surrounded by the savage rocks and dark pine-trees of his native region.

The Bear is often adverted to in the Scriptures, and with great force and beauty. When Saul discouraged David from the combat with the Philistine, David, in reply, informed the monarch that he had encountered and slain a Bear which ravaged his father's fold, and, with a feeling of true piety, he ascribes his success, not to his own prowess and courage, but to God alone, who, as he had delivered him out of the paw of the Bear, would, he trusted, deliver him out of the hand of the Philistine. Confiding in that God whose protection he had experienced, and which he openly acknowledges, he goes forth, not in his own strength, but in the assurance of faith, and conquers. And so must the Christian. The Bear is a rugged and powerful adversary; so are the enemies with whom the Christian has to contend; and in the outset of his pilgrimage, as if in trial, he will be called to numerous conflicts: he is just emerging from the world, and the world will not let him go without a struggle. Sin will also endeavour to retain him with a murderous gripe, temptations will beset him, and his own passions will league against him; but through God he will overcome all: and then, should future trials come, or other and severer conflicts await him, looking back upon the past, he will be able to say, as David when about to meet the Philistine champion, "The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the Bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."

The young should especially remember the destruction of the forty-two profane youths of Bethel, by the two she Bears. They mocked the prophet of God, and so insulted the Most High, who thus punished their daring crime, 2 Kings

ii. 23.

The Persian monarchy is figured as a Bear, (Dan. vii. 5,) rough, shapeless, savage, and voracious.

India produces several species of Bear, as the MALAY, TIBET, etc., agreeing with the rest of the tribe in general habits, but of less size, with short close fur, and claws remarkably long and curved, which, in conjunction with a lighter form of body, enable them to climb with greater facility.

From the mountains of India is also brought the SLOTH BEAR, (Prochilus labiatus,) of which

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two fine specimens exist in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It is a rough clumsy animal, distinguished by the singular power of protruding or contracting the lips, which have great mobility, and are used for reaching or collecting its food, consisting, it is said, of white ants, honey, and vegetables, for which it digs. Its claws are long and powerful; and with these it excavates holes or dens for its retirement.

In closing our sketch of this race, we shall present our readers with that celebrated species, a native of the polar regions, which, on the floating icebergs of a sea where the whale and "snorting sea-horse" flounder, secure from the weapons of man, and over interminable wastes of snow, braves the utmost intensity of cold, and dwells the stern and savage ruler of a stern and savage realm.

POLAR BEAR. (Ursus maritimus.) (See Engraving, No.11.) The accounts of older navigators are full of the marvellous and extravagant with regard to the dimensions and ferocity of this animal; but after every allowance for the magnifying effects of fear and novelty, the Polar Bear is a tremendous and formidable beast. Its average length, when full grown, appears to vary from six feet to seven; there are, however, instances on record of a much greater magnitude; for example, the specimen in the British Museum, brought home by Captain Ross from his northern expedition, measures seven feet eight inches; and its weight, after losing, it is calculated, thirty pounds of blood, was eleven hundred and thirty-one pounds: and another individual is described by Captain Lyon as measuring eight feet seven inches and a half, its weight being sixteen hundred pounds.

The first and most striking character of the Polar Bear, which distinguishes it to the eye of the non-scientific observer, is its colour, which is of a uniform white, with a tinge of straw colour more or less prevailing. In its figure, though the limbs have the massive thickness peculiar to its race, there may be easily traced a striking distinction, referable, no doubt, to its almost aquatic mode of life. The contour of the body is elongated; the head flattened, with a straight profile; the muzzle broad, but the mouth peculiarly small. The neck, which forms a most remarkable feature, is continued twice as long and as thick, if not thicker, than the head, which is thus thrown out far from the shoulders, so as to give it a poking air. The paws are of huge dimensions, and covered on the under side with coarse hair, whence it derives security in walking over the smooth and slippery ice. The fur is long and woolly, except about the head and neck, but of fine texture, and considerable value.

On the inhospitable shores where the Polar Bear resides there are no forests to shelter him in their recesses; he makes the margin of the sea or the craggy iceberg his home, and digs his lair in the snows of ages. His habitat may be considered as bounded by the arctic circle, below which he does not willingly pass; the northern and western winds, however, often drift numbers on floating islands of ice to the coast of Siberia and the shores of Nova Zembla. On