The cannolis I know are a sweet biscuit of light,flaky pastry filled with custard, often chocolate custard, and then sometimes dipped in chocolate. The pasta filled with ricotta cheese and spinach is cannoloni. Yes?
St.Josephine: doughnut expert, training wheels on Italian food.
A bear claw is...?
The cannolis I've grown up with, being of Italian heritage, are the hard, flaky pastry shell that you've described, dusted with powdered sugar and filled with a sweetened mixture of ricotta cheese and pistachios (if you're ever in Milwaukee, for some odd reason, try the ones at Sciortino's; they also have cookies to die for and the best bread in town. I had the sweet table at my wedding, including mini cannolis, from there. Very, very good.) Cannelloni are also filled with ricotta but it's mixed with ground beef, spinach, and spices. Manicotti is stuffed with just the ricotta cheese, or a mixture of cheeses (another Milwaukee dining suggestion: for manicotti go to Palermo Villa, which also has incredible pizza.) In Italian cooking, ricotta, being somewhat flavorless in and of itself, can be used for deserts as well as main courses.
Bear claws are probably slightly different all over but the ones I've had are slightly rounded and have slits in one side to resemble the "claw". The ones I've had are filled with an alomond paste and covered with glazed sugar and almonds. I've also had ones with apple inside but I do believe that may have been illegally crossing over into apple fritter teritory.