84 THE LAB1ATED BEAR. 



legs, and its form is lighter than in after-life. Its motions 

 are then agile, and it cannot easily be overtaken, even when 

 pursued by a horseman at full speed. Its colour is a deep 

 shining black, relieved by a white mark on the chest, shaped 

 like "a chevron or horse-shoe, the two branches of which ex- 

 tend over the arms. The muzzle and extremities of the feet 

 are of a yellowish white colour. 



The feet are armed with long, crooked, white claws, with 

 which it is said to burrow in the ground : they are doubtless 

 of considerable use in enabling it to dislodge the ants, which 

 form part of its food, and to get at the stores of bees, which 

 also contribute to form the diet of this creature in a state of 

 nature. Bewick informs us that it will eat marrow or the fat 

 of meat either raw or dressed ; but refuses roots of all kinds, 

 and the lean and muscular parts of flesh. 



Its disposition is gentle and docile : it is taught similar ex- 

 ercises to those which the brown bear is made to learn ; and 

 it is exhibited in the same way by the jugglers of Hindostan, 

 as the latter species is by the wandering Savoyards in Europe. 

 A very good notion of the peculiarities of the labiated bear 

 may be derived from a glance at the synonyms that have been 

 unmercifully heaped upon it by modern naturalists, as, for 

 example — 



# Bradypus ursinus, Shaw. 



ursiformis, Pennant. 



Prochilus hirsutus, Iliger. 



Melursus hirsutus, Meyer. 



Chondrorhynckus hirsutus, Fischer. 



Ursus labiatus, Blainville. 



loiigirostris, Tiedemann. 



Prochilus labiatus, Gray. 

 And we are not sure whether some of our naturalists may 

 not consider it as appertaining to Dr. Horsiield's new sub- 

 genus, and therefore as having a claim to the appellation of 

 Helarctos lahiata, unless Iliger's generic title of Prochilus 

 be extended over all the tropical Sun-bears. 



With respect to the animals included under the latter name, 

 we may observe that they bear a close affinity with our pre- 

 sent species. They have all long compressed claws, exten- 

 sible lips and tongue, and are marked with the white spot on 

 the throat ; but they are smaller than the labiated bear, and 

 are covered with short close- set hair. They are all gentle in 

 their habits, and purely vegetable feeders. The Malayan 

 species is peculiarly fond of the young protruding summits 

 of the cocoa-nut trees, which always become its prize when 

 the natives change their residence. In one of his excursions 



