CHAP. XVII.] 



MAMMALIA. 



201 



from Coban in Guatemala, in which country it has also been 

 observed by Mr. Salvin. 



Fossil Procyonidce. A species of Nasua has been found in the 

 bone caves of Brazil, and a Procyon in the Pliocene or Post- 

 pliocene deposits of Illinois and Carolina. 



FAMILY 31. MLUEIDM. (2 Genera, 2 Species.) 

 GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Panda (dZlurns fulgens), of the forest regions of the 

 Eastern Himalayas and East Thibet, a small cat-like bear, has 

 peculiarities of organization which render it necessary to place 

 it in a family by itself. (Plate VII. vol. i. p. 331). An allied 

 genus, jfflluropus, a remarkable animal of larger size and in 

 colour nearly all white, has recently been described by Professor 

 Milne-Edwards, from the mountains of East Thibet ; so that the 

 family may be said to inhabit the border lands of the Oriental 

 and Palaearctic regions. These animals have their nearest allies 

 in the coatis and bears. 



FAMILY 32. UKSIDJS. (5 Genera, or Sub-genera, 1$ 'Species.) 

 GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Bears have a tolerably wide distribution, although they 

 are entirely absent from the Australian and Ethiopian, and almost 

 so from the Neotropical region, one species only being found in 

 the Andes of Peru and Chili. They comprise the following 

 groups, some of which are doubtfully ranked as genera. 



Thalassarctos, the polar bear (1 species) inhabiting the Arctic 

 regions ; Ursus, the true bears (12 species), which range over 



