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The only other pachydermatous animal besides the tapir indigenous to South America is the little truculent peccary a herd of which creatures is more feared by the natives than the jaguar, boa, or anaconda. There are two species the Dicotyles tajacu and Dicotyles labiatus, or white-lipped peccary; the latter being the larger and fiercer of the two. The peccary is very like a small hog.
Sanderson set the example some years ago, and had some interesting hunts; he describes the Ursus labiatus as rendered powerless, in spite of its great strength and activity, as one bull terrier invariably seized it by the nose; this is the most sensitive part, and easy to hold, as it is long, and connected with a projecting upper lip, which is almost prehensile in this variety.
This man was head constable in the police, and bore a very high reputation. The Ursus labiatus being one of the most vicious animals, I have seen it upon two occasions attack an elephant, one of which was quite unprovoked.
These beds rest on the Lower Headon, and are considered as the equivalent of the middle part of the Headon series, many of the shells being common to the brackish-water or Middle Headon beds of Colwell and Whitecliff Bays, such as Cancellaria muricata, Sowerby, Fusus labiatus, Sowerby, etc. In these beds at Brockenhurst, corals, ably described by Dr.
As we shall return to the Big Horn range when treating upon the habits of wapiti and other animals, I shall now refer to the Indian bears, and commence with the most spiteful of the species, Ursus labiatus.
We shall reject this absurd title, and call it by its real one ursus labiatus, which, literally translated, would mean the "lipped bear" not a very specific appellation neither.
The outline that I have already given of Ursus labiatus is sufficient to condemn its character; there are more accidents to natives of India and Ceylon from the attacks of this species than from any other animal; at the same time it is not carnivorous, therefore no excuse can be brought forward in extenuation.
I have never appreciated the name of "sloth bear" given to Ursus labiatus, as it is a creature that works hard for its food throughout the year, and being an inhabitant of the tropics, it never hybernates.
They were quadrupeds of a greyish-brown colour, not larger than half-grown pigs; and pigs they were that is to say, they were peccaries. They were those of the species labiatus as could be seen by their white lips.
The first-mentioned is the one which has received most notice both from naturalists and travellers. In redeeming it from this character, other systematists were not content to leave it where it really belongs in the genus ursus but must, forsooth, create a new one for its special accommodation; and it now figures in zoological catalogues as a prochilus the prochilus labiatus!
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