26 CARNIVORES. 



the celebrated cavern of Gailenreuth in Franconia, must have been prodigious, 

 although it will be obvious that all of these did not exist at one time. From its 

 size, which exceeded that of the largest grizzly, as well as from its numbers, it 

 must have been a formidable foe to the early hunters of Europe, armed only with 

 flint hatchets and spears. In the earlier Pliocene deposits of Europe there occur the 

 remains of the Etruscan bear ( U. arvernensis), which was considerably inferior in 

 size to the brown bear. The extinct Theobald's bear (U. theobaldi) from the 

 Siwalik Hills of Northern India, appears to have been a species closely connecting 

 the typical bears with the one next on our list. 



THE SLOTH-BEAR. 

 Genus Melursus. 



The well-known Indian sloth-bear (Melursus ursinus), commonly known in 

 its native country by the name of Bhalu, but by the Mahrattas termed the Aswal, 

 differs so remarkably from all the other members of the family that it is generally 

 regarded as forming a genus by itself. It differs from all the typical bears by 

 having but two pairs of incisor or front-teeth in the upper jaw, so that the total 

 number of teeth is forty instead of forty-two. Moreover, all the cheek-teeth are 

 much smaller in proportion to the size of the skull than in other bears, while the 

 palate of the skull is deeply concave, instead of being nearly flat. The claws are 

 also unusually large and powerful, and the snout and lower lip are much elongated 

 and very mobile. The sloth-bear is, at best, but an ugly-looking animal, and 

 is generally of smaller size and less bulk than the Himalayan black bear. It is 

 covered with very long and coarse fur, which attains its greatest length on the 

 shoulders. With the exception of the end of the muzzle being dirty grey, and of 

 the white chevron on the chest, the colour of the fur is black, but the long claws 

 are white. As regards size, this species measures from about 4J feet to 5 feet 8 

 inches in the length of the head and body, the tail generally measuring from 4 to 

 5 inches, exclusive of the hair; the height at the shoulder varying from 2 feet 

 2 inches to about 2 feet 9 inches. Large males may weigh as much as 280 Ibs., 

 while there is one instance recorded of a specimen weighing as much as 320 Ibs. 



The sloth-bear may be regarded as one of the most characteristic, and at the 

 same time one of the commonest of the mammals of India. It is found in Ceylon, 

 and in the peninsula of India from Cape Comorin nearly to the foot of the 

 Himalaya. Mr. Blanford states that it ranges as far west as the province of 

 Katiawar, and is also occasionally found in Cutch, while to the northwards its range 

 is probably limited by the great Indian desert. It occurs in North-Eastern Bengal, 

 but how far its range extends in this direction is not fully ascertained, there 

 being some doubt whether the large black bear found in the plains of Assam is this 

 species or the Himalayan black bear. Within the last thirty or forty years it has 

 been completely exterminated from some parts of Bengal and the Deccan. 



Habits Perhaps the best account of the habits of this bear is one drawn 



up by Mr. Blanford, partly from the results of his own observations 



and partly from those of others. It is there stated that these bears " are generally 



