322 W. T. Blanford— 0;^ tioo Asiatic Bears [K"o. 4, 



tlon and end of the tall, tlie lower parts from the breast including the under 

 surface of the tail white, the muzzle in front of the eyes dusky brown, 

 sides of the head pale rufous, forehead more rufous, the hairs being brown 

 at the base with scattered white tips, which are also found on the dusky 

 muzzle. 



The ears are grey outside with a slight rufescent tinge, white inside. 

 In one sj)ecimen the ears are more dusky than in the other, which is shewn 

 by the teeth of the skull to have been an aged animal. The hair of the 

 body is soft and long, the longest hairs on the middle of the back being 

 about 2 inches in length, with much fine under fur of a grey colour, dark 

 ashy in one specimen, pale ashy in the other, the longer hairs on the back 

 are black near the ends, the tips of many being white. On the anterior 

 portion of the back in one specimen, the hairs are rufous between the grey 

 base and the blackish tip, and the rufous colour extends along the back 

 of the neck. This imperfectly marked rufous colour doubtless represents the 

 chesnut stripe in V. famelicii^s. The gape and chin are dusky, the breast 

 ashy grey, the abdomen white. The fore legs are pale rufescent in the 

 older specimen, dusky grey in the younger, the hind legs rufous brown out- 

 side in the one animal, dusky black in the other, the tail is very bushy, the 

 hairs grey or white with long black ends above and at the tip, so that the 

 tail appears blackish except below, where it is white or nearly white. The 

 skins are too much stretched for their measurement to be of any use, except 

 in the case of the tail, which measures 15 to 16 inches ; of this the hairs at 

 the end are about 2^ in. The measurements above given are founded on 

 the skeleton. 



The skull, which, as already mentioned, is that of an aged animal, is 

 very small and almost destitute of crests. The hinder portion of the brain 

 pan is much rounded and the small occipital crest very low on the back of the 

 head, being in fact about equally distant from the foramen magnum and 

 the top of the skull. The following are measurements of this skull : 



inches metre 

 Length from occipital crest to anterior termina- 

 tion of premaxilla?, 3.65 -092 



„ from anterior margin of foramen mag- 

 num to do,, 3*35 'OS^! 



„ of suture between nasal bones, 1-12 '028 



Breadth of nasal portion of skull at posterior ter- 

 mination of premaxillas, 0'57 '014 



„ of frontal region behind postorbital pro- 

 cesses, 0-73 -018 



„ of brain case where widest across jDarietal 



region, 1'4 . '025 



„ of skull icross zygomatic arches, 2*02 '0505 



