B E A 



n E A 



tlie European bears in its structure, as far at least as can 

 IK- determined fiom the parts which have been preserved in 

 the specimen. Among these, the claws afford the bast 

 means of comparison : they are small, obtuse, and straight, 

 while those of the Asiatic bears above roeMiened we large, 

 strongly curved, acute, and fitted for eUmking.' 



The Syrr'ait Bear, Urtut SyrHsn**. The she-bears which 

 came out of the wood, ' and Use forty and two' of the mockers 

 of Elisha (2 King* n. M. ft *ro.). art probably the llrst 



bears on record. These bean of Syria may be oeraaionally 

 traced in subsequent history. Thus Matthew Paris, in 

 his England, relates how Godfrey (Dmx Godrfridiu), as he 

 was riding for recreat ion in n neighbouring wood daring the 

 siege of Antioch M*/ioe**'orri), saw a poor stranger, 

 who was loaded with a bundle of dry wood, fleeing from an 

 enraged bear, whereupon Godfrey gallantly went I* the 

 rescue, and the bear turning njwn him he wu unhorsed, 

 the horse being weunded by tie beer, and fought on foot, 

 when, after a severe struggle, in which be received a ntost 

 dangerous wound (* fere Mikrwn), he buried hjs 

 sword up to the hilt in his savage xfieisasi, and killed him. 

 The historian, in contmuetion, relates the great joy of the 

 army at Godfrey's recovery . (Hist, of England torn. ii. 

 p. 34, folio, London, 1640.) 







[Unas SyrlKu.J 



Haasclquist makes no mention of a bear in his catalogue 

 of the animals given in his travels in the Levant, in the 

 years 171''. . 1, and 1752: hut Scetzen, some twenty 



years ago, was informed in the country that bears existed in 

 the mountain* ol 



I ! -mprirh and Khrer.berg, in the Symbolee Physica; have 

 given a figure (here copied) and a description of a female 

 killed near Bischerre in Syria. The following is the sub- 

 ttance of the description. 



Bear, of a uniform fulvous white (sometimes variegated 

 with fulvous) ; ears elongated ; forehead but slijrhtly arched; 

 fur woolly beneath, with long straight, or but slightly curled, 

 hair externally : a stiff inane of erected hairs (about four 

 Usenet long) between the shoulders. 



The individual killed was neither young nor old, and 

 measured, from the nose to the tip of the tail, about four feet 

 two, the tail being six inches. Nothing was found in the 

 stomach, nor were any rntnzna (internal worms) discovered. 

 They saw her den (where there was much bear's dung), 

 formed by great fragments of calcareous rock, that appeared 

 to have been casually thrown together. They ate of the 

 flesh, which they found sapid, hut the liver was sweot and 

 nauseous. The gall appears to be in great esteem ; the 

 skins are sold ; and so is the dung, under the name of Bar 

 I'd dull, tho latter being used as n medicine for diseases of 

 in S) ria and Egypt. 



Mount Lebanon is crowned with two snowy summit'', one 

 rail": :iiin, the other Makmel, both of which the 



'IT* visited ; but there arc : .eept upon Mount 



Ma'kinel. near the village of ]!IM herte, lo the gardens ol 

 whic-h they are uder in winter : hut in the sum 



locr they remain in the neighbourhood of tho snow. 



The Syrian bear frequently (non raro) prays on animals, 



but for the most part feeds on vegetables. The fields of 

 drer ariftitnu (a kind ef ehick-pea). and other crops near 

 the snowy region, are often laid waste I 



The skin is sometimes fulvous brown, and, as has been 

 stated, sometimes fclvons white, varied with i.... 

 These changes ate supposed to have been occasioned by the 

 abrasion of tho long hair, whereby the woolly fur beneath 

 aad that of the head become exposed. 



lu the British Museum is a yellowish bear presented by 

 tba Royal College of Surgeons, which has some points of 

 resemblance with Ehrenberg's description ; hut it is an 

 alliino variety of the brown bear ( L'ritu Aretot), and came 

 from Russia. 



Those who are familiar with Athentrus will remember 

 the description of the procession of Ptolemy PI. 

 (lib. v. p. 201, Caeanb.) at Alexandria, in which one great 

 while bear (apcroc fun Xturi) /jiyuXij /mil makes a con- 

 spicuous figure. Some, and among them Baron t'uvier, 

 have thought that this was the Urtut muritimus. Khren- 

 berg thus writes upon this point, after referring to the 

 opinion of Cuvier: ' But since it is evident from Prosper 

 Alpinus, that white bears, of the size of ; 

 you will) were known in the hind of the Arabians ami in 



. 1 would rather believe that Ptolemy's War \v:i- 

 tingtiished for its size (as it is written) than distinct in 

 species. There is scarce room for hesitatins to refer all 

 those evidences of bean seen in Egypt to our Syrian 



To this we can add that, in Roae'llini'* work (plate M. ('. 

 No. 22) th'.-re is a representation of two me:: one, 



a red mau with a red l^ard and Ion;: black hair with a filler, 

 clii'l in awhile tunic or frock bordered with bin 

 stripes and with blue tassels at the neck, supports on the 

 left shoulder a package nearly square, pinkish. and s] 

 with blue, and holds m the right hand a red vase. His 

 companion, of the same colour, dressed in the same 

 but with the fore-part of his head apparently shaven or 

 covered with a cap of the same colour as the skin (the hinder 

 part with the black hair cut close), carries on his left shoul- 

 der two elephants' tu-ks. and with his right hand leads a 

 large yellowish hear, high in tho withers and with a red 

 collar. 



In the same plate, and immediately before the hoar- 

 leaders, is a dark-brown man, naked all hut the cincture 

 (which is white patched with nil leopard-like spots), a white 

 collar round his neck with a red centre-piece, and while 

 wristbands. He has no bean! : his head is covered by a 

 close skull-cap spotted with black: on his left shoulder he 

 bears a log (ebony r), and with his right hand leads a leo- 

 pard or panther. 



There are also two men conducting n giraffe with a monkey 

 climbing up its neck ; and there is an elephant with its 

 keeper, and a lion without any guardian. 



The hear figured in Rosellini is led apparently in a pro- 

 cession, and Ptolemy's pompn occurs immediately to the 

 observer; but the modern opinion would refer these figurc< 

 to a date long prior to the Greek occupation of Kizypt. If 

 thi* opinion be correct (and it is considered the better one), 

 Rosellini's plato cannot relate to Ptolemy's pompa. 



Subgenut Prochilut. 



Labiated Bear, or Sloth Rear, Urtus (Prochilus) Labia- 

 tut. Illiger, it is true, founded this genus on imperfect 

 materials, for the individual which led him to separate it 

 had lost its incisor teeth, a loss to which it is said tie 

 TV subject*. M. de Blainville proved that it vas 

 a species of bear: and we think that, though Illigc; 

 scription, from the cause above alluded to, was ii,< or.cct. his 

 name is expressively characteristic of one of the subdivisions 

 of this family, and should be retained. 



The uncouth animal, on its arrival in Europe some fnrty- 

 flve years ago, was taken for a sloth, and obtained the name 

 of Hradi/pus jientadarti/lnx and I'ninut, ' Five I'm 

 Sloth, Sloth Bear, or Ursine Moth.' By tin- two last i. 

 it is, or very lately was, shown in menageries ; and Bewick 

 gave an excellent portrait of it in his Quadrupeds, as ' an 

 animal which has hitherto escaped the attention of nutu- 



In Hi.- ^inrivdhin of the Zn.li<nl Soclnly fur 1830-18.1], it i. 

 tin- jtkuUt of mam . tliii pedm whirli 1 



ill lu-vci torn more than four inriwir l-rlh hi thr upper i 



It ttaiiiliiii; n liltlc in fniU 

 th* nsU On<- *i p wnon, wav to }oung. that 



rttffldvnt tnetoon eonld have fallen out ; nor vm tln-rc 



any a]']- :ililiuii having rxitt "\ 111 tho pliu-tfi wllicll they fthouU 



HUT* <K- 



to reoora tliu urinal bom thr g'-uu t'rjui ; but v cinuot frrc ilh him 



