BEARS. 
2 5 
the nose is but slightly produced. The claws are considerably curved, and pale 
in colour. The fur of this species is very short and coarse, and is mostly black, 
although tending to brown in some parts; the whole of the muzzle is paler, or 
whitish, and the light band on the chest varies from white to orange, and is 
subject to considerable diversity of form, sometimes extending as a streak on to 
the under-part of the body. The general length of the head and body is only 
about 4 feet, and, according to Mr. Blanford, never exceeds 4| feet. A female 
mentioned by the same writer, although fully adult, had a length of only 3| feet, 
and did not weigh more than 60 lbs. This species is found in the Malay Peninsula, 
and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and also extends through Burma 
into the Garo Hills in North-Eastern India. Of its habits, Mr. Blanford states 
that little is known except in captivity. It is a purely forest animal, and an 
admirable climber. It is essentially frugivorous, but like other bears occasionally 
kills and eats mammals and birds. It is said to be very fond of honey, and it 
probably devours insects and larvae. When caught young, it is generally easily 
tamed, and is usually gentle and amusing when in captivity. Its general pace is 
much quicker than that of other bears, and a specimen kept some years ago in the 
Zoological Gardens at Calcutta, used to pace up and down its cage with great 
rapidity, turning very suddenly every time it came to the end of its track. A 
fragment of the jaw of an extinct bear, obtained from the gravels of the Narbada 
Valley, in India, appears to indicate a more or less closely allied species. 
The Extinct Cave-Bear ( Ursus spelceus). 
No account of the typical bears would be complete without some reference to 
the great extinct cave-bear, of which the remains are found in such profusion in 
the caverns of Europe, and 
less commonly in the brick- 
earths and other superficial 
deposits. This gigantic 
species, of which the skull is 
represented in the annexed 
figure, was a contemporary 
of the mammoth and early 
human inhabitants of Europe. 
The skull is readily dis¬ 
tinguished from that of all 
other species by the great side-view of skull of cave-beak. 
prominence immediately 
above the eyes; while the molar teeth are characterised by the extremely fine 
tuberculation of their crowns, in which, when unworn, the enamel has a kind of 
wavy pattern. 
The cave-bear, although it had a wide range in Europe, is unknown both in 
the extreme north and the extreme south of that continent; it is found in the 
British Isles as far north as Yorkshire, but is not definitely known to occur in 
Ireland. The number of individuals inhabiting Brixham Cave, near Torquay, and 
