are in the temperate parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Of
the genus sorex or shrew there are many species, some in
the middle countries of Europe, others in Siberia, some in
Egypt, and in southern Africa; others in the temperate
parts of America. Of the desman dr mygale, long known in
the Pyrenees, there is a distinct species in Russia, and these
animals are replaced by the subgenus chrysochk>ris at the
Cape of Good Hope. Analogous to th e hedgehogs is the
tribe of tenrecs, natives of Madagascar and naturalised at
the island of St. Maurice. The scalopes in the temperate
parts of America .were long confounded with the shrews
and moles. They form a distinct tribe containingf several
-species. Lastly, the moles of Canada are a distinct" species
from those of Europe.*
The bears are divided into a variety of species, but their
exact number is unknown, and their limitations are by no
means determined. Late writers consider a s‘ distinct species
many races of bears which were formerly regarded as mere-
varieties of the ursus arctos: such are, if. The bear of the
Pyrenees and Asturias. 2. The Norwegian bear. 3. The
Siberian. 4. The bear of JLibanus, described by Ehrenberg
and Hemprich. 5. The black bear, remarkable ^fei its
flattened forehead; its country is unknown, and it is doubtful
whether the species can be considered as distinct. 6. The
labiatus of Bengal, supposed by Shaw to be a sloth. 7. The
thibetanus. 8. The isabellinus of Dr. Horsfield, from Ne*-
paul. % 9 & 10. The bears of the. Malayan archipelago and
that of Borneo termed by Horsfield, helarctos.
America has several peculiar species of bears, as ursus
omatus, the bear of Chili; 2. the black bear of North
America; 3. the bear described by Dr. Richardson as a
variety of the European b e a r; 4. the large, grisly bear described
by Umfreville and Mackenzie, and by Lewis and
Clark, which i s ' carnivorous and extremely fierce. The instincts
of this species are very remarkable, and differ singularly
from those of the other bears of the country."
The Polar bear being capable of enduring the rigours of
* Lesson, Hist. de Mammifères, tom. v. Cuvier, Règne Animal.
an arctic climate, is peculiar to neither of the great continents.*
Several plantigrade animals are arranged by naturalists as
•sub-genera of the bear tribe, as the raccoons of North and
#duth. ' America,-rthe côatis, the badgers, the gluttons and
wolvereens : these; have not a very extensive range, and are
severally appropriated to particular-countries^
The same remark may be applied’ to the ofters, the mus-
telse and viverræ/^Sffa^which a greaff1 number of species are
distinguished by late naturalists : those which are found in
countries distant from each other ar^ m É ^ d l bÿ peculisr
characters.£
:A Of th e dogdrind several species endure climate;
and these are common to Europe, 5 Asia;’ and AmericV- The
lagopus or}4satis is found at Spitsbergen; .andq’iyitraecd
through the north of: Asia^to Kamtsc’hâtkay and thence
throughrsome of the Kuriliand&les to the "Sfiorés’ of Aifieficd,
to Hudson’s Bay, 'and rtq Greenland. The' fox, wolf? and
lycaon, are also common to the. arèticfcountries:- Dr. Richardson,
whb has giveÈK an ^ekcellent account of’ the Wolvesy
foxes,?and dogs^ofrNorth America, associates with the European
wolf thë' cânis lupusièccidentalis, of "which he considers
the amarok ofthe Esquimaux, and several tribe^tlf hunting
animals in. the plains of the Missouri, to be varieties. Many
tribes o f wolves and foxes,1 which are ’ c o n s id e re d ^ distinct
species, are adapted to warm or temperate climates ; and
these are confined to a limited sphee, some ih America, some
in Asia, others in Africa; Of all regions Africa most abounds
in foxes. To the corsac dr .mesomeles of the Cape:several
other distinct species may be added, which have' been made
known by Riippell and Delalande, in Nubia, Abyssinia, and
the Cape of Good Hope. The megalotis or long-eared fox
of Iliger, the famel found by Riippell in Kordofan, and the
* Lesson. Hist. des Mammifères, tdm;v; Çuvier, sur les ossemens du genre
de l ’ours qui se trouvent dans-certaines cavernes de Hongrie et d’Allemagne. Annales
du Muséum, tom. vii.., Pallas, Spicileg,Zoolog, Fascic, 14.
j., +i Cuvier sur les mouffettes et la zorille. Annales du Mus. tom. ix ., - ,
$ Cuvier, Régné. Animal:—item. Cuvier sur les espèces d’animaux carnassiers,
&c. in Annales du Mus. tom. ix.