. A history of British fossil mammals, and birds . a circumstance which of itself weighs against the hypo-thesis, that the present European Bears are the degeneratedescendants of the huge Spelaean species. The Ursus prlscus scarcely differs less than the UrsusArctos fiom the Ursus spelteus, yet it is as ancient a speciesas the more formidable one, and has equally sufferedfrom causes of extinction which we are at present unablefully to understand. On the other hand, we may, by the study of Britishfossils alone, avoid the error of the opposite extreme ofmultiplying nominal species, if, guided by
. A history of British fossil mammals, and birds . a circumstance which of itself weighs against the hypo-thesis, that the present European Bears are the degeneratedescendants of the huge Spelaean species. The Ursus prlscus scarcely differs less than the UrsusArctos fiom the Ursus spelteus, yet it is as ancient a speciesas the more formidable one, and has equally sufferedfrom causes of extinction which we are at present unablefully to understand. On the other hand, we may, by the study of Britishfossils alone, avoid the error of the opposite extreme ofmultiplying nominal species, if, guided by the known lawsthat regulate the range of deviation from a true specifictype, we make due allowance for diversities of age and sexin a carnivorous and combative quadruped like the Bear;and we thus distinguish from the Ursus priscus, or theUrsus Arctos, the fossil remains of young, though adult,individuals, and those of the females of the great Ursusspeleeus, which have given rise to the nominal species,Ursus arctoideus and Ursus planus. Fig. Young Ursus spekeus. Keufs Hole. MELES TAXUS. 109 CARNIVORA. URSIDJE. Fk. ..7
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Keywords: ., bookaut, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectpaleontology
