444 



PERE DAVID S BEAR 



All Bears are largely vegetarian and insect feeders ; but this Bear 

 is especially so. It delights in the nests of Termites, and its 

 energy in destroying these hills for the sake .of their inhal)itants 

 is so great that the name of " sloth " appeared to Sir Samuel 

 Baker to be an entire misnomer. 



Acluropvs, a rare Carnivore with biit one species, A. niclano- 

 leucvs, is not inferior in size to the Brown Bear, and is dis- 

 tinguished by its largely white coloration. It was discovered in 

 the mountains of East Thibet by Pere David, and described by 

 Milne - Edwards ^ as a distinct and new genus, the discoverer 

 liimself having named it as a species of Ursiis. It is a vegetable- 



FiG. 226. — Aeluroims melanolcucus. -^^. 



feeding creature and bulky in form, with a rudimentary tail and 

 a short broad head ; in fact, more like a Bear than a Procyonid 

 (with which group it is placed by some). Tlie width of the 

 head, however, is greater than in any other Carnivore ; it is 

 most closely approached in this by Aelnras and by Hyaena. 

 The molar formula is Pm ^ M |. The soles are hairy. There 

 is no alisphenoid canal. The molars are especially large and 

 multicuspid. 



Fossil Ursidae. — The genus Ursas itself goes back to Plio- 

 cene times. The well-known Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeics of 



^ Nouv. Arch. Mus. vii. 1872, Bidl. p. 92; and Ilccho-chcs pour scrvir a Vhistoire 

 naturelle dcs Mammiftres, 1868-1874, p. 321. This genus has quite recently 

 (Lankester, Trans. Linn. Soc. viii. 1901, ].i. 16:5) heen definitely referred to the 

 Procyonidae. 



