434 ^ame of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



another bear from South America which had been in the Society's 

 Gardens : — 



"A young bear, presented by Mr. WilHam Crosley on the 28th 

 December, which 1 have not been able to determine satisfactorily. As 

 will be seen by its skin, which I now exhibit, it does not show the charac- 

 teristic markings of Ursiis ofnatiis, the generally known bear of the South 

 American Andes, being of a uniform black with a slight greyish white patch 

 on the throat. It may possibly be the young ot a different species from 

 the Colombian Andes, and in such case may be referable to that which I 

 shortly described before this Society in 1868 as Ursi/s nasutus. Mr. Crosley 

 has kindly supplied me with the following note on the exact locality of 

 this specimen, which it is proposed to deposit in the British Museum : — 



" ' The little bear I sent to you came from the banks of the Simitara, 

 an affluent of the Magdalena on the western side. You will see that this is 

 on the eastern slope of the central chain of the Andes in their northern 

 extremity. Approximately you may fix the position as 7' 30' north 

 latitude and 74" west of Greenwich long., on the meridian of Bogota, 

 more or less.' " 



The distinctness or otherwise ot the Colombian bear from the typical 

 \J. ornatus must remain tor the present undecided. If, however, it be 

 separable, it is much more likely to be a local phase of that animal than a 

 distinct species. 



It is but seldom that examples of the spectacled bear are to be seen in 

 the London Zoological Gardens, very tew being brought to Europe. Its 

 habits are doubtless similar to those of bears in general, but no account ot 

 these appears ever to have been published, at least in England ; and the 

 writer is unacquainted with the name ot any British sportsman \vho has 

 ever shot one of these bears. 



It is said to differ from all other bears by the presence of a perforation 

 in the lower end ot the humerus, or upper bone of the fore-limb. 



