412 MB. R. LTDEKKEB ON THE [Apr. 6, 



and the dentine, 'while the tubes in the enamel' are straight and 

 regular. 



In Dasyuridce they pass across more sparsely, as is the case also 

 in Dideli-thyida', and no dilatation takes place at the passage, but 

 there is an abrupt bend at this point. 



In Notoryctes (fig. 2, p. 411) this marsupial character is very 

 strongly marked ; the tubes pass into, and through almost the 

 whole thickness of, the enamel in great abundance : they show 

 no dilatation, but a very strongly marked bending at the point of 

 passage. They have another peculiarity : when in the enamel 

 they often show several sharp abrupt bends, the concavities of which 

 lie towards the grinding surface, but they resume sooner or later 

 their original direction parallel with the enamel prisms. 



This character also is met with in Thylacimts and markedly in 

 Didelpliys, but is not to be found in Macropods ; hence in this 

 feature of minute structure a point of resemblance vA'ith Didelphys 

 is shown. 



It is interesting to find in these points of minute structure 

 some confirmation of the correctness of the view, arrived at on quite 

 different grounds, that Notoryctes has affinities with the Dasyuridce 

 and Bidelphyidce. 



3. The Blue Bear of Tibet^ with Notes on the Members of the 

 UrsMs arctus Group. By R. Lydekker^ F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived February 17, 1897.] 

 (Plate XXVII.) 



In the year 1853 the late Edward Blyth^ gave a brief notice of 

 the imperfect skin of a Bear from Tibet, obtained by Dr. A. 

 Campbell, and now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 

 He regarded it as probably referable to a variety of the Himalayan 

 Black Bear {Ursus torqaatus), but suggested that if it proved 

 specifically distinct, the Tibetan Blue Bear, as Dr. Campbell called 

 it, might be known as U. pridnosus. As Mr. Blanford subse- 

 quently pointed out, this title is little more than a nomen malum, 

 and the name apparently dates from the description of a skin 

 and imperfect skull described by the latter writer-. These 

 specimens were brought to the late Mr. Mandelli at Darjiling hy a 

 native who stated that he had purchased them at Lhasa, and that 

 the animal inhabited the plains around that cit}'. This skin and 

 skull are likewise in the Indian Museum. 



Mr. Blanford considered that the skin obtained by Mr. Mandelli 

 was specifically identical with Blyth's Blue Bear of Tibet, and he 

 accordingly described it as a distinct species, under the name of 

 U. pruinosus ; his description being as follows : — 



" The general coloration above is tawny brown, palest on the 



' Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxii. p. 689 (1863). 

 '' Ibid. Tol. slvi. p. 31 S (.1877). 



