106 The Mammals of the Sub-Himalayas and Tibet. 



abides solitarily or with his mate only, on the ground. More shy he 

 is in age than in youth, but not less destructive to the crops ; nay, far 

 more so, in proportion to his greater appetite and greater weight 

 in trampling the grain, and because the villagers dare no longer 

 drive him off, as they do the juniors. Nor are his marks or colours 

 different in nonage and maturity, " the rusty-red of the muzzle, 

 white chin and pectoral crescent," all belonging to Tibetanus at 

 all ages, though cited by your critic as the designations of his imagi- 

 nary 3rd species, Tibetanus being his 2nd, and Labiatus his 1st. 

 But Labiatus does not penetrate into the hills, as alleged by your 

 critic ; and Dr. Jameson, speaking of hill bears, probably omitted 

 all mention of it on that account, or because, there being no forest 

 below the hills west of the Ganges, there is no Labiatus found there ; 

 and not from the ignorance so promptly imputed. The ignorance 

 here again is your critic's, not Dr. J's. ; for the sloth bear or juggler's, 

 or long-lipt bear, which may be known at once by its long shaggy 

 coat, very mobile lips, enormous digging claws, and small and feeble 

 hind-quarters ; is not a hill but a plain bear, preferring to live out- 

 side of the forest even, and never ascending the hills at all. I think, 

 certainly, not dwelling nor ever found, at half the elevation named 

 by your critic. And now, Sir, how stand your critic's three points ? 

 But common sense must indicate that there is no being rigidly pre- 

 cise as to the exact number of feet which marks the habitat, or the 

 occasional wanderings of species : and if Dr. Jameson err in that 

 respect, yet more seriously and more variously does his censor err as 

 to the number, as to the location, and as to the habits, of these 

 species, of whose location all that can be truly said, is, that the white 

 or isabelline bear (Ursus) belongs to the northern region, the Tibetan 

 (Helarctos) to the central, and the long-lipt (Melursus) to the 

 southern ; and of their habits, that, while all are essentially omnivo- 

 rous, the 1st is the most carnivorous, and the last, the least so ; 

 the 3rd holding the mean in appetite as in habitat. But to say, like 

 your critic, that this species is at all averse to flesh, is an addi- 

 tional error ; for, some years ago, three of them, kept by me at 

 Simla, seized and devoured two others of their own hind of smaller 

 size, belonging to Mr. Ross Bell, ate them up, bones, skin and all, 

 with a fierceness and rapidity more than Tigrine ! and many were 



