Spectacled Bear 433 



THE SPECTACLED BEAR 



( Ursiis ornatiis) 

 (Plate VIII. Fig. 14) 



As the North American black hear appears to be the Transatlantic 

 representative of the black bears of the Himalaya and Japan, so the South 

 American black, or spectacled bear seems to correspond with the Malay 

 bear of the more southern districts of Eastern Asia. The resemblance of 

 the present species to the Malay bear is shown by its short and stiff tur, 

 the short and broad head and arched prohle, and the small bodily size. In 

 both the anterior cheek-teeth are crowded together in a similar manner, 

 and the structure of the true molars is likewise practically identical. One 

 of the first to compare the skulls of these two widely separated bears was 

 the French naturalist De Blainville, who found them so alike that he at first 

 believed them to belong to the same species. A closer comparison showed, 

 however, that the nasal bones are rather broader, as are also the cheek 

 (zygomatic) arches in the American species ; and there are likewise certain 

 difterences between some of the bones of the base of the two skulls. 



The present species apparently attains a length of only between 3 

 and 4 feet. Its general colour is deep black, but there is a characteristic 

 tawny crescent above each eye, and the lips, cheeks, chin, throat, and chest 

 are white. 



Typically this bear is from the Peruvian Andes, but its range is 

 commonly given as extending down the chain of the Andes from Colombia 

 to Chili and Bolivia. In 1868 Mr. P. L. Sclater ^ briefly described and 

 figured a South American bear at that time living in the menagerie of the 

 Zoological Society, and proposed for it the name Vrsiis uasutiis. Thirty 

 years later the same gentleman'- published the following remarks on 



1 ProcecUngs Zool. Sec. London, 1868, p. 73, pi. viii. - Ibid., 1898, p. 2. 



3 K 



