22 MAMMALIA. [Cuar. I, 
hairs, its feet are furnished with prehensile hooks that 
almost convert them into hands; and being obliged to 
conform to the sudden flights of its patron, and ac~- 
commodate itself to inverted positions, all attitudes are 
rendered alike to it by the arrangement of its limbs, 
which enables it, after every possible gyration, to find 
itself always on its feet. 
III. Carnrvora.—Bears.—Of the carnivora, the one 
most dreaded by the natives of Ceylon, and the only one 
of the larger animals that makes the depths of the forest 
its habitual retreat, is the bear}, attracted chiefly by 
the honey which is found in the hollow trees and 
clefts of the rocks. Occasionally spots of fresh earth 
are observed which have been turned up by the bears 
in search of some favourite root. They feed also on 
the termites and ants. A friend of mine traversing the 
forest, near Jaffna, at early dawn, had his attention at- 
tracted by the growling of a bear, that was seated 
upon a lofty branch, thrusting portions of a red-ants’ 
nest into his mouth with one paw, whilst with the other 
he endeavoured to clear his eyebrows and lips of the 
angry inmates, which bit and tortured him in their rage. 
The Ceylon bear is found in the low and dry districts 
of the northern and south-eastern coast, and is seldom 
met with on the mountains or the moist and damp 
plains of the west. It is furnished with a bushy tuft of 
hair on the back, between the shoulders, by which the 
young are accustomed to cling till sufficiently strong to 
provide for their own safety. During a severe drought 
that prevailed in the northern province in 1850, the 
district of Caretchy was so infested by bears that the 
1 Prochilus labiatus, Blainville. 
