A444 PERE DAVID’S BEAR CHAP. 
All Bears are largely vegetarian and insect feeders; but this Bear 
is especially so. It dehghts in the nests of Termites, and its 
energy in destroying these hills for the sake of their inhabitants 
is so great that the name of “sloth” appeared to Sir Samuel 
Baker to be an entire misnomer. 
Aeluropus, a rare Carnivore with but one species, A. melano- 
leucus, 18 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 deseribed by 
Milne-Edwards! as a distinct and new genus, the discoverer 
himself having named it as a species of Ursus. It is a vegetable- 
Fic. 226.—Aeluropus melanoleucus. 35. 
feeding creature and bulky in form, with a rudimentary tail and 
a short broad head; in fact, more like a Bear than a Proecyonid 
(with which group it is placed by some). The width of the 
head, however, is greater than in any other Carnivore; it is 
most closely approached in this by dAeurus and by Hyaena. 
The molar formula is Pm4M2. The soles are hairy. There 
is no alisphenoid canal. The molars are especially large and 
multicuspid. 
Fossil Ursidae.—The genus Ursus itself goes back to Pho- 
cene times. The well-known Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeus of 
1 Nouv. Arch. Mus. vii. 1872, Dull. p. 92; and Recherches pour servir a Uhistoire 
naturelle des Mammiferes, 1868-1874, p. 321. This genus has quite recently 
(Lankester, 7rans. Linn. Soc. viii. 1901, p. 163) been definitely referred to the 
Procyonidae. 
