Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/152

126 of larger dimensions, this Great Cave Bear was distinct from the Grisly, or else an unusual variation in regard to bulk and certain osteological characters obtained in the Grisly Bear of ancient Britain. Compared individually, the Brown, Grisly and Cave Bears stood in much the same relative height as the Shetland pony, Galloway, and dray horse.

The geographical distribution of these bears over the British Isles, so far as is known, seems to indicate that the largest form was restricted to England, and that the Grisly was also common in Ireland, where no certain remains of the Brown Bear have been yet discovered.

The Cave Bear no doubt was the first to disappear, followed by the Grisly, whilst the Brown Bear survived to within historical times. All were contemporaneous here long after the separation of Great Britain from the Continent, and gradually died off, it may be from failure of food or through human agency. Looking to the habits and food of living species, it is apparent that the Bear would survive the Lion, for the reason that it is not entirely dependent on flesh for its subsistence, but will eat vegetable food—indeed, many species prefer it to animal food; consequently the Lion may have died of starvation in Great Britain when the Deer and other prey became very scarce. No doubt failure of food has brought about the extinction of many species, and in the case of the British Islands, even supposing man had not appeared on the scene, the severance from the Continent must have initiated a struggle for existence among the larger quadrupeds, of which the fittest only would survive. The great Cave Bear and the Grisly, not to mention the Lion and Hyæna, must have been formidable enemies to the deer and wild oxen; indeed, the probabilities are that none of the former survived long after the separation from the mainland.

That man played a considerable part in exterminating the bear tribe is proved by the arrows, spears, and hatchets of stone which have been discovered in several caverns either overlying the remains in question or associated with them. But, although man contributed to the extinction of many species, it is probable that