82 THE LARIATED BEAR. 



black hair, out of which there projects in front a narrow 

 elongated ill-shapen snout ; while beneath this shaggy pent- 

 house four great paws, turned awkwardly inwards, bespeak 

 the quadruped. 



Such, at least, is the general appearance of two of this 

 species at present living in the Gardens of the Zoological So- 

 ciety, where, however, both the density and length of the 

 covering may, perhaps, in some measure, be ascribable to the 

 influence of our northern climate. This bear is, however, 

 in its natural haunts, distinguished from all its tropical con- 

 geners by its denser coat of hair ; and it is doubtless owing 

 to this natural protection that it is enabled to brave our 

 winters with impunity, even when its den is placed in a com- 

 paratively unsheltered situation. The hair upon the back of 

 the head and neck is so remarkably developed as to represent 

 a sort of mane, exceeding a foot in length, and almost hiding 

 the ears. The labiated bear differs also from the rest of the 

 genus, in losing, at an early period of its existence, the whole 

 or greater part of the incisor or front teeth ; his nostrils are 

 supported by a peculiarly large and moveable cartilagi- 

 nous plate, by means of which he can open or close their 

 apertures at will, and in this way probably defends the nasal 

 passages from the ants, into whose nests he intrudes his snout. 

 The lips of this species are soft and fleshy, and susceptible 

 of varied and extensive motion, often being elongated in a tu- 

 bular form three or four inches beyond the jaws. It is from 

 this peculiarity that the commonly adopted trivial name, la- 

 hiatus, has been derived. 



The labiated bear is a native of Hindostan, more especi- 

 ally the mountainous districts. It is common in Bengal, on 

 the mountains of Silhet, and in the Deccan Ghauts. Its first 

 appearance in this country was about fifty years ago. Bewick, 

 in his History of Quadrupeds, has given a characteristic 

 figure and an accurate description of this species ; and from 

 the striking correspondence of parts observable between it 

 and the common bear, as well as from an attentive exami- 

 nation of its disposition and manners, he was induced to 

 place it in the same genus, notwithstanding it seemed to 

 differ in some of those characteristics, which have been pointed 

 out by naturalists as the guides to a regular and systematic 

 arrangement. In an earlier and ruder figure, which we find 

 in Caton's Figures of Animals, the good sense of the artist 

 also detected the true relations of this subject, and the animal 

 is called the Petre Bear. 



There are few of our readers who, if they were asked if they 

 had ever seen a living sloth, would not answer in the affirma- 



