1909.] 



OF A BLACK BEAR FROM EASTERN TIBET. 



609 



as in the Tibetan specimen, but the palate is much wider, as is 

 shown by the following measurements : — 



Tibet. Assam. 



Length of six upper cheek-teeth 3"9 ins. 3'9 inE'. 



„ last 3 upper cheek-teeth ... 2'1 2"0 



Width of palate between m 2 1 "5 TT 



This relative narrowness of the palate in the Tibet skull is 

 borne out by the above-mentioned female skull from Sze-chuen, 

 in which the length of the space occupied by the last three cheek- 

 teeth is 2-3 ins., while the palatal width between m 2 is only 1-25. 

 As the Sze-chuen skull certainly belongs to the same race as the 

 one from Tibet, and as its teeth ai'e rather larger than those of the 

 latter (in which the palatal width between m 2 is 1*55 inches), it 

 indicates that the narrowness of the palate in the female is quite 

 as important a feature of the Tibetan race as is the small size of 

 the cheek-teeth and the relative narrowness of the third large 

 molar in the male. In both sexes the palate is distinctly vaulted, 

 whereas in the typical Himalayan race it is nearly flat. 



Text-fig. 187. 

 A. B. 0. 



Palatal aspect of the lower jaws of the same tliree skulls. About \ nat. size. 

 Letters as in text-fig. 186. 



These features seem to justify the recognition of a distinct 

 Tibetan race of U. torquatus, for which the designation U. t. 

 macneilli will be appropriate, the male skull forming the subject 

 of the present paper being the type. 



Now that the Himalayan Black Bear has been shown to occur 

 in Tibet and Sze-chuen, it might be argued that the time has come 

 for the re-instatement of the name tihetanus ; but since the typical 



Proc. Zool. See— 1909, No. XLII, 42 



