44 Dr. N. SevertzofF on the Mammals of Turkestan. 



The most striking difference is in the claws, which are white, 

 whilst tliose of U. arctos are black. The claws of the front 

 feet of U. leuconyx are long and very little bent, whilst those 

 of U. arctos form almost half a circle. The claws of the hind 

 feet of U. leuconyx are only half as long as the fi-ont claws, and 

 also very little bent. Its fur is wavy, and much longer than 

 that of U. arctos^ but not so thick ; the hair is 3 to 4 inches 

 long, especially in winter at a great altitude. The general 

 colour is reddish brown, the hairs having yellow tips ; but the 

 legs are pure reddish brown. The coloration varies. On the 

 high plains about the Upper Narin the fur at the root is 

 tolerably light, and the terminal half of the hairs is whitish, 

 so that the animal often appears dirty white with light brown 

 legs. In the forests about Vernoe, at a height of about 3000 

 to 6000 feet, three fourths of the hair is reddish brown, the 

 ends yellowish, and the general colour is reddish brown, shaded 

 with yellow. In Karatau the bear lives at low altitudes of 

 2000 to 3000 feet, in small woods which afford very little 

 shade ; and in this warm climate its colour is very pale, not 

 whitish, but yellowish, and the ends of the hair are hardly 

 lighter than the roots. The young have a white collar like 

 U. arctos. 



The habits are different. About Vernoe, from the time 

 when the Cossacks commenced to keep bees, the bear very 

 intelligently empties the beehives. In the western spurs of 

 the Thian-Shan mountains, and in the fertile country about 

 Chirchick, it principally feeds on fruits, such as apples, gi-apes, 

 walnuts, &c, ; and, finally, at the Narin it preys principally on 

 the marmots, and for that purpose ascends to the high table- 

 lands considerably above the limit of the forests. I met with 

 it in such localities during the month of October, even at an 

 altitude of 11000 feet, when the marmots are in their winter 

 sleep and do not come out of their holes. Then the bear digs 

 them out, and kills in their colonies more than he is able to 

 eat. Those he cannot eat at the time he buries again, after 

 having first bitten through their nape. Such marmots my 

 huntsmen found buried and quite fresh at a place where they 

 afterwards killed a bear. This was a full-grown female 4 feet 

 5^ inches long, height at the shoulders 2 feet 7 lines^ conse- 

 quently much smaller than U. arctos, but proportionally higher 

 on the legs. 



The real habitat of these light-coloured bears is in the 

 thickets, at a height of from 8000 to 10500 feet, and in the 

 fir-forests up to 9500 feet, whence they make their hunting- 

 trips to the high steppes. 



