1825.] Genns Vnus of Cuvier, ^ 



. 2. i'r'dcKiltis Malayanus, nob. Ursti^ Malaykrius> 

 Raffles. ! 



'*r<^'} 8, UrsusTebethianus. F. Ciiv. Mamm. Lithog. 

 ■"^Thl' specimen of the first described species of this division 

 was destitute of cutting teeth, and was, therefore, against th^ 

 example of Linnseus himself, placed with the Bradypi, the oril;f 

 genus possessing canine teeth and grinders, and wanting the 

 cutting teeth, under the name of Bradypus ursinusj or Ursine 

 Sloth. The illustrious IlHger, not knowing th^t the cutting 

 teeth had been destroyed, but aware that it had not the habits 

 of the sloth, by its external organisation, formed it into a genuS 

 distinct from them under the name of Prochilus. Meyer, regard^ 

 less of the name of Illiger, gave it the name of Melursus, and 

 Fischer in his Zoognomia that of Chrondyrhynchus. It was 

 Buchanan, in his Travels in the Mysore, that first pointed it out 

 as being a bear. This group forms a very distinct subgenus ; I 

 should, therefore, recommend the adoption of the former name 

 of lUiger's, oli account of its aptness and priority for the whole 

 group. ^ 



I have seen four specimens of the Pro'chilus labiatvs, all of 

 which had their cutting teeth destroyed; but whether it was 

 done before they arrived in this country, or by the showmen to 

 make them sloths, and thus agree with their bills, I know not, 

 nor could ever discover. 



The Malay Bear is very remarkable for the depressed form'df 

 its body, and its low manner of walking ; for its body (when in 

 confinement at least) nearly touches the ground, and its feet are 

 uncurved so as nearly to touch each other. It was first described 

 by Sir Stamford Raffles in the Linnean Transactions, and figured 

 by Mr. Griffith, from a drawing by my friend Major Hamilton 

 Smith, after a stuffed specimen in the Museum, which was pre- 

 sented to that establishment by Lady Banks ; and again byhim 

 in his Translation of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, from an excel- 

 lent drawing by Landseer, after the specimen at present alive in 

 the Tower ; but the attitude of neither of the plates gives the 

 peculiar appearance of the animal when it Walks — a peculiarity 

 to be observed, but not so fully developed in the Ursus labiatus. 



The Malay Bear has the very peculiar depressed broad- 

 rounded head, the thin lengthened snout, very long, extensile, 

 narrow tongue of the Prochilus labiatus, with which it was con- 

 founded by the showmen when it was first brought alive to this 

 coiititry.* I have not been able to learn if the same peculiari- 

 ties are found in the Tibeth Bear, as I only knew that species 

 from the figure and description of Mr. Frederic Cuvier. I have, 

 therefore, placed in this ^ection with a marl^ of d;di!ibl/^'Tfife 



' A^ *- ^^cl tJiis species has b^en confouftdecl together on tlie (Doimiiefit "^ ' '^^ ' 



