64 



THE LABIATED BEAR. 



head and neck is so remarkably long that it forms a sort of 

 mane,, more than a foot in length, and almost hiding its large 

 ears. On the chest is a white mark, shaped like a chevron or 

 horse- shoe, the two branches of which extend over the arms. 

 The body is long ; the head small ; the muzzle of a yellowish 

 white colour ; the lips are soft and fleshy, and capable of varied 

 and extensive motion, often being elongated in a tubular form 

 three or four inches beyond the jaws hence the specific name 

 labiatus. Its nostrils are supported by a peculiarly large and 

 moveable cartilaginous plate, by means of which it can readily 

 open or close their apertures -, and in this way it probably 

 protects the nasal passages from being entered by insects when 

 it thrusts its snout into their nests. It differs from the rest 

 of the genus in losing, at an early age, the whole, or the greater 

 part, of the incisor or front teeth. Judging from the form of 

 its teeth, we should predicate that it is as carnivorous as any 

 allied species. Bewick says it will eat marrow or the fat of 

 meat either raw or cooked ; but refuses the lean and muscular 

 parts of flesh, and all kinds of roots. The extremities of the 

 feet are yellowish white, and are furnisTied with long, crooked, 



