1877.] and a Balucliistdn Fox. 319 



hairs about 8| to 4 inches long, whilst the interscapulary region, like tTae rest 

 of the back, is clothed with black hairs, fulvous at the tijis. The hair is moder- 

 ately fine and about 3 inches long on the back. Apparently the animal 

 when killed was about to lose its long winter coat, for the hair is much 

 felted and matted together in places, and a short fine tawny hair is seen to 

 be growing beneath. The hoary appearance given to the fur by the fulvous 

 tips is extremely characteristic, but it may very possibly be less conspi- 

 cuous at some seasons. 



The claws are pale in colour, strong, and moderately curved, the first (and 

 largest) claw on the fore foot measuring 2*2 inches in a straight line from 

 insertion to tip, and 2*75 round the curve; the corresponding measm-ements 

 of the first hind claw are 1-3 and 1-4 inches. 



The animal is evidently old, several of the premolars have been lost, 

 and the alveoli obliterated ; the molars are much worn. As already men- 

 tioned the size of the teeth and especially of the molars is unusually large ; 

 the canines appear very little larger than in U. lahiatus. The posterior 

 molar in the upper jaw is wanting on one side and im|)erfect on the other, 

 it must be nearly 1^ inches long and its anterior portion is 0'88 broad, the 

 ante-penultimate (1st true molar) measures 0*9 inch in length by 0*72, 

 the tooth anterior to this or hindmost premolar is 0"62 long. The three 

 together when perfect must have measured nearly 3 inches in length. The 

 1st lower true molar measures 1*02 long by 0"53 broad, the second 1'05 by 

 0-63, the 3rd and hindmost 0-83 by 062. 



It has already been mentioned that there is in the Society's old col- 

 lection, now in the Indian Museum, a very large bear's skull attributed to 

 TJrsiis isahellinus. The skull, No. 224, Gr. of Blyth's Catalogue is called 

 " Enormous skull from Kashmir purchased 1858." I was, I believe, 

 with Mr. Blyth when he purchased this skull in the Calcutta Bazaar, at 

 the shop of a dealer in all kinds of similar articles, where heads of various 

 animals from very different parts of India were mixed together. Thus I 

 remember myself purchasing on the same occasion an Ovis Hodgsoni skull 

 and a fine frontlet of Cervus Duvaucelli ; one of course from Tibet origi- 

 nally, the other from the plains of India. I should consequently attach no 

 importance whatever to the supposed locality. 



Now the teeth of this large bear's skull resemble those in the jaws of Mr. 

 Mandelli's specimen of JJrsus pruinosios so closely, that it is by no means 

 improbable that both may have belonged to the same species. The former 

 is larger than any other skull of Vrsus isabellinus in the Museum and the 

 molar teeth are unusually large, though still inferior in size to those of 17. 

 pnUnosi(,s. The following are a few dimensions : 

 Length from anterior edge of foramen magnum to end of premax- 



illaries, 125 



