BEAR. 



337 



are not so considerable as to affect almost any other 

 species of animal ; and therefore we may naturally 

 conclude, that in a situation like the Andes, where 

 there are all descriptions of climate within a very 

 short distance of each other, the variations of these 

 sensitive animals must be correspondingly great ; so 

 that before we can decide what is a different species, 

 and what a mere climatal variety, we must know much 

 more of the history of the animals, in different locali- 

 ties, and in the successive periods of their age. Even 

 the teeth of bears form a much less certain character, 

 at least in so far as species are concerned, than those 

 of most of the mammalia ; for not only are the false 

 molars liable to drop out at different ages, but it is 

 doubtful whether there be not also differences in the 

 number of incisive teeth, in species which are in other 

 respects exactly the same. 



This caution is necessary, not with rogard to the 

 bear, or bears, of the Andes only, but also with regard 

 to those of the south-east of Asia. Of these there 

 are usually reckoned four specie*, the Nepal bear, 

 the common bear of India, the jungle bear, and the 

 Malay bear, and as these seem to vary just as much 

 as those of central America, there is little doubt that, 

 by procuring them of different affes, and from places 

 differently situated, each of these might be multiplied 

 into two or three species more ; whereas, if they were 

 reared alike for two or triree successive generations, 

 and then compared at the same aire and in the same 

 condition, it is /ngnry prooaoie tnat they might turn 

 out to be all of the same species. These circumstances, 

 together with the very little which is known of the 

 habits of some of them, further than is inferred from 

 the fact of their being bears, render it necessary to be 

 very brief in a popular notice of them. 



All these bears have the prevailing colour black, 

 the hair being shorter and smoother, and the mark- 

 ings on the head and throat more conspicuous, in pro- 

 portion as they inhabit lower down or farther to the 

 south. 



7. The Nepal bear, or Thibet bear ( Ursrts Thibet- 

 anus). This is a mountaineer, inhabiting the forests 

 and brushes on the slopes of the Himalaya, and 

 pretty generally distributed over that vast mountain- 

 ous range, though not, as it would seem, from the 

 scanty information which we have of its habits, verv 

 numerous in any one place. It is, indeed, doubtfu" 

 whether there are not more than one species of bear 

 in those mountains, or if there is only one, then that 

 one varies considerably in appearance. That usually 

 described under the specific name which we have 

 given, is rather of small size, and with the feet anc 

 claws considerably smaller than those of the northern 

 bears. It is all over of a black colour, with the ex 

 ception of a large and conspicuous mark on the breast 

 and throat in the form of the letter Y. The profile 

 of this species is much straighter than that of the 

 northern bears ; and in this respect it has some resem- 

 blance to the bears of America. It is understood to 

 feed chiefly Upon vegetable substances, insects, am 

 the bodies of animals which perish in the mountair 

 storms. As the winter is very severe in the uppei 

 districts of the Himalaya, it is probable that this spe 

 cies, or at least the females of them, hyberuate for L 

 short time. Mention has been made of a bear being 

 seen in the same mountains, more resembling the 

 northern bears in its profile and the texture of its fur 

 than the species above alluded to, but the account o 

 it is very vague. 



NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



. The JUNGLE BEAR (Ursus labintus). This spe- 

 ies gets the name of labintus or " lipped," from the 



"reat elongation of the cartilaginous part of its nose, 

 nd a similar elongation of cartilage on the extremity 

 )f its under jaw. These elongations are moveable, 



and their consistency is such, that the animal can use 

 .hem as prehensile instruments, and even manage to 

 livide soft substances with them. Its general colour 

 s black, with the muzzle and the extremities of the 

 eet of a yellowish or greyish-white, and a Y-shaped 



mark of a similar colour on the throat, wita its points 

 brming a demi-collar on the neck. 



Jungle Bear. 



This species is very subject to lose its incisive teeth 

 through age, and that indeed long before it shows any 

 other symptom of decay ; and on this account,as well as 

 from the produced and peculiar form of the muzzle, 

 it has sometimes been described as a sloth, and not as 

 a bear. In all its characters it is, however, a true 

 bear. A disposition to lose the teeth is not confined 

 to this species, but is pretty common among all the 

 bears which inhabit warm countries, or live much upon 

 sweets ; and from the injury that we know to be done 

 to the human teeth by an excess of that description 

 of food, we can, in part at least, see the reason of this 

 loss in the bears. The species under consideration 

 lives, as its name imports, in low situations, which are 

 rich and tangled with an exuberant vegetation. It is 

 an expert climber, and not only consumes great quan- 

 tities of the common succulent fruits which grow so 

 abundantly in India, but readily climbs the cocoa-nut 

 trees, contrives to tear the rind and break the shell of 

 these, and extract the milky juice. In this, and in 

 many other of its modes in feeding, it has little use 

 for incisive teeth, as the cartilaginous lips are suffi- 

 cient for so breaking or squeezing soft fruits as that 

 the juice of them can be extracted ; and the shells of 

 the cocoa-nuts are, of course, broken by the canine 

 teeth. 



9. The common Hear of India, if a different species 

 from the above, and also from the bears of the moun- 

 tains, is described as inhabiting places which are rather 

 more dry and open than those inhabited by the jungle 

 bear, though still in the low grounds, rather than in 

 the mountains. It is said to be black and glossy, with 

 the muzzle and throat of a pale-reddish brown co- 

 lour. It is not of large size, nor in any way feroci- 

 ous, but feeds much upon those social insects of 

 which the species and the swarms are so abundant in 

 all the fertile parts of India, especially the white ants. 

 It is not understood to be in thf. least dangerous to 

 man, and indeed none of the bears of warm latitudes 

 F F 



