560 



CARNIVORA 



the total loss of the three anterior premolars in the adult condition. 

 Eemains of Bears are also found in cavern-deposits in the north 

 of Africa. The small U. namadicus, from the Pleistocene of the 

 Narbada valley, India, may have been allied to U. malayanus. 



Melursus. 1 This differs from the true Bears in the first upper 

 incisor being absent or shed at a very early age, in the very small 

 size of the other teeth, in the very large extensile lips, the deep 

 concavity of the palate, and other minor characters. The one 

 species, M. Idbiatus, the well-known Sloth-Bear of India, feeds chiefly 

 on black ants, termites, beetles, fruit, honey, etc. This species 

 inhabits peninsular India, from near the Himalaya to Cape Comorin 

 and Ceylon, and its remains are found in the cavern-deposits of 

 Madras. The black hair is very long and coarse ; there is a light 

 horse-shoe-shaped mark on the chest (as in Ursus torquatus), and the 

 extremity of the muzzle is of an ashy gray. 



FIG. 256. JEluropus melanoleucus. (From Milne-Edwards.) 



2 Dentition : i f , c j-, p , m f ; total 40. Premolars 

 large, increasing in size from first to last, and two-rooted except the 

 first. First upper molar with quadrate crown, broader than long ; 

 second larger than the first. Cranium with zygomatic arches and 

 sagittal crest immensely developed, and ascending ramus of mandible 

 very high, giving greater spaces for attachments of temporal muscle 

 than in any other existing member of the order. Facial portion 



1 Meyer, Uebersicht d. neu. Zool. Entdeckimgen, etc. p. 155 (1793). 



2 A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch, du Museum, vol. viL Bull. p. 88 (1871). 

 Amended from " Ailuropus." 



