258 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIETV. 
common appellation of Malayan bear. The animal is also 
plentiful along the southern slopes of the Himalayas, from 
whence specimens sent to Cuvier ware described by him as a 
new species, and named “ Thibet Bear,” whereas the species is 
not met with in that elevated region. The white mark on 
the brisket of the South American black bear (CT. orncctus) and 
the above is very much alike. It assumes the shape of a cre- 
scent, and to the hunter is an excellent point at which to direct 
his rifle. 
Along the base of the chains which encircle the Valley 
of Cashmere there is an intercommunication between the 
black and the afore-mentioned isabel-coloured bear ; in fact, 
here is a border line where the two meet and dispute their 
footing ; so that in autumn, when the jungle fruits are plenti- 
ful and the Indian corn and other grains are ripening, the 
latter, descending from his alpine retreats, pushes south- 
wards into the valleys frequented by the former for the pur- 
pose of feeding on walnuts, mulberries, and wild apples. 
Now, considering the specific differences between the two, and 
that the brown is the larger, it is a fact of which I had 
ocular demonstration that the black bear no sooner sees 
his antagonist than he boldly attacks him, and compels a 
retreat. Indeed, it is a common occurrence in secluded 
valleys to observe the Malayan bear in an apple or walnut-tree 
greedily devouring fruit, whilst his brown compeer is feeding 
on whatever happens to be knocked down, but no sooner does 
the former descend than the latter decamps into the jungle. 
A similar competition between allied forms of the same genus 
takes place at higher elevations on these ranges. There the 
ibex and great horned wild goat establish themselves on 
certain feeding grounds and dispute each other’s footing, so that 
the two are rarely seen on the same mountain ; in fact, the rule 
is more or less universal, and the competition is always most 
severe between allied forms ; but, strange to say, it is not invari- 
ably the most powerful animal that is victorious ; nor does it 
appear why or wherefore. At all events, this enmity has among 
other effects that of both contracting and extending the range 
of species, and when applied to the study of the geographical 
distribution of living and extinct forms it enables us to under- 
stand how an animal may be checked in its advance, driven 
back, or even exterminated by one of its own genus. 
In tracing the geographical distributions of living and ex- 
tinct bears we naturally wonder how the grizzly found its way 
to America, and how the black bear of Asia gained admittance 
into the East Indian Islands. The only reply is that the 
Aleutian Islands are remnants of a sunken area which united 
the New and Old Worlds, and that the Malayan peninsula ex- 
