. The _sylva_ was quite equal to
anything they had witnessed on the Amazon; while the _fauna_--especially
in quadrupeds and _quadrumana_--was far richer.

To one quadruped was their attention more especially directed; and I
need hardly say that this was the Bornean bear--by far the most
beautiful animal of the whole Bruin family. The Bornean bear is also
the smallest of the family--in size, being even less than his near
congener, the Malayan bear; though resembling the latter in many
particulars. His fur is a jet black, with a muzzle of an orange-yellow
colour, and a disc of still deeper orange upon the breast, bearing a
certain resemblance to the figure of a heart. The hair is thickly and
evenly set over his whole body--presenting the same uniform surface
which characterises the black bear of North America, the two species of
South America, and also his Malayan cousin--who inhabits the
neighbouring islands of Sumatra and Java. For the latter, indeed, he is
often taken; and many naturalists consider them as one species--though
this is certainly an error. The Bornean bear is not only much less in
bulk; but the deep orange-colour on his breast offers a permanent mark
of distinction. In the Malayan bear there is also a marking on the
breast; but it is of half-moon shape and whitish colour. Besides, the
colour of the muzzle in the latter species is only _yellowish_, not
_yellow_; and the animal altogether is far from being so handsome as the
bear of Borneo.

Dr Horsfield, who had good opportunities of observing them both, has
pointed out other essential characteristics, which prove conclusively
that they are separate species; but the Doctor, guided by his love for
generic distinctions, could not rest satisfied, without further
ornamenting his task--by constituting for them a new genus, under the
title of _Helarctos_. There is no reason whatever for this inundation
of generic names. It has served no good purpose; but, on the contrary,
renders the study of natural history more complicated and obscure; and
to no family of animals do these remarks more pointedly apply, than to
that of the bears. So similar are all these quadrupeds to one another--
so perfect is the _family likeness_ between them--that to separate them
into different genera is a mere pedantic conceit of the anatomists.
There are about a dozen species in all; and the systematic naturalists--
who do not even admit that number--have formed for the bears