1840.] 



Mammalogy of the Himalayas. 



in Keraaon ; but no one appears to have described, or even examined it, 

 and we are ignorant of every thing relating to it, except the name. It 

 will probably prove to be a distinct species from its European congener, 

 if it exist at all ; but the question is involved in great doubt, and is well 

 worthy of a careful examination. 



CARNIVORA PL A NTIGRAD A. 



Of this family, the majority of which likewise belong to the temperate 

 regions of the earth, various forms and species occur among the Himalay- 

 as. First, of the genus Ursus, we have the Bhaloo, or Common Bear of 

 India {Ursm lahiatus)y and, according to Mr. Hodgson,* the Malay Bear 

 (Ursus Malay anus), inhabiting the Turai, or sultry regions, at the base 

 of the mountains, to which localities he appears to intimate that they 

 are confined. But the habitat here assigned to the Malay Bear is ex- 

 tremely doubtful. It rests solely on the authority of Mr. Hodgson, 

 who, from the want of proper means of comparison, is often mistaken in 

 the identification of species ; moreover, we have never received this 

 animal from any part of Continental India, but only from the great 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago ; and it is therefore not improbable 

 that it may have been in this instance confounded with the Ursus Thihe- 

 tanus, which, from the general similarity of the two species, may have 

 readily happened, Mr. Hodgson, indeed, expressly mentions this latter 

 species as an inhabitant of the Central and Northern regions of Nepal ; 

 and Dr. Royle informs me, that it is confined among the more western 

 hills, to the Doon and warm valleys, where it is called Reech by the 

 natives, Lieut. T. Smith, of the 15th regiment N. I., however, an officer 

 well acquainted with the Mammals of the Himalayas, and a keen sports- 

 man, assures me that the Common Sloth Bear (U?'sus labiatus) does not 

 ascend above the lower spurs of the great Mountain Chain of Northern 

 India j that it is there replaced by the Reeck or Reek^ which occupies 

 the whole of the more elevated hills, as far up as the snow line, where 

 it is succeeded in its turn by the Barjiov Yellow Bear (Ursus isahellinus), 

 a species hitherto very imperfectly described, though mentioned 

 by every tourist as extremely abundant in the higher regions of 

 the Himalayas. Capt. Skinnerf met with it in the neighbourhood 

 of Bhairo Ghati ; Traillj found it in Kemaon, though he says it 

 is peculiar to Bhot ; and it is probably the Brown Bear mention- 

 ed by Mr. Fraser :§ so that upon the whole it appears, that whilst the 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, ii. 96, t Excursionft, &c. ii. 72. 



$ Asiat. Res. J xvii. 16. I Journey, &c, p. 351, 



