THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
Two strange little bears are very distinct from the remainder, 
and deserve a few words. One is the glacier bear of the St. 
Glacier Elias Alps, Alaska. It has been known only since 
a 1895, and only one good specimen has thus far been 
examined. It stands only twenty-four inches high, and is of 
the general color of the silver fox, whitish on the belly, with 
the hair not long, but remarkably soft and with an under- 
wool; the nose and cheeks are tan, the back of the very short 
ears and the outer faces of the limbs, black. This pattern re- 
calls that of the Aluropus, which endures a similar climate. 
Nothing is known of its habits. 
The other one is the little sun bear, found from Assam down 
to Borneo, which weighs only about sixty pounds, and is black 
with a yellowish breast mark and a funny round 
head with a square muzzle. These little ‘““bruangs”’ 
are merry fellows, the pets of every ‘‘zoo,” and at home spend 
their lives mainly in trees, which they climb like cats by the 
aid of their long, curved, exceedingly strong claws. 
Sun Bear. 
The bear, so familiar yet so mysterious, so formidable yet having almost 
human traits, has appealed powerfully to the imagination of men in all 
places and ages; and among the primitive folk of both the Old World and 
the New has been feared, revered, and endowed with marvelous gifts which 
have passed into a rich folk lore. Every book regarding the native North 
Americans tells of the veneration with which it was treated by our Indians 
in all parts of the continent; the Ainu, or aborigines of Japan, still worship 
it; °°’ and European mythology abounds in stories and legends of the heroic 
part it has played in the mystic affairs of the past.*° 
Associated with the bears in the “arctoid” group are the 
“‘coon-bears,”’ —a family (Procyonide) of odd little planti- 
grades, all American save one, of which our raccoon is leader. 
The structural relationship is undoubtedly closest to the bears 
and dogs, yet many of the species much resemble Oriental 
civets. Such a resemblance is not surprising, since fossils from 
the Oligocene and Miocene rocks illustrate the evolution of 
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