SOME TIBETAN ANIMALS. 



431 



Fio. 2.— Ti'otli <if right side of jaw of great panda. 



ica. The tooth of tho <>Toat paiuhi (fig. "J) aro most boaiitiful and 

 intorostiii<>- ohjocts — on tlio Avhoh> ai)proacliino- miu-h noaror to those 

 of the lesser panda than to the ursine typo. Of the habits of the great, 

 panda, we are at pres- 

 ent in complete ignor- 

 ance; but on this 

 point wo may hope in 

 time to bo enlightened 

 by tho opening u]) of 

 Tibet. Whether wo 

 may ever expect to 

 see such a wonderful 

 creature alive in the 

 Regents Park, it is difficult even to guess. Probably the groat panda 

 is a native of the more or less wooded districts of eastern Tibet, and 

 not of the arid and elevated central plateau. 



The same must undoubtedly be the case with the Tibetan snul)- 



nosed monkey (Rlihiopi- 

 thecus roxeUana') (fig. H), 

 which was lilcowise the 

 first -known representa- 

 tive of a now generic 

 type discovered in the 

 Moupin district of east- 

 ern Tibet by the Abbe 

 David. It has, however, 

 boon subsequently ob- 

 tained in Szechuan, while 

 a second representative of 

 tho irenus has been discovered in northwest China and a third in' 

 the mountains bordering the Mekong River, That tho Tibetan ropre-^ 

 .tentative of the snub-nosed monkeys, at all events, is a native of a 

 cold climate may be inferred from its massive and "chubby'' build 

 and its thick coat, which in winter forms a long, silky mantle of great 

 beauty on the back. As to the peculiar form of tho nose, so utterly 

 unlike that of ordinary monkeys, the suspicion arises that it may be 

 in some way connected with life at a high altitude, seeing that the 

 Chiru antelope, to be noticed later on, has gone in for a very strange 

 development in the way of noses. At present, however, we are very 

 much in the dark as to the relative height of the districts in Avhich 

 these strange monkevs are found. 



Nothing special need bo said with regard to the above-mentioned 

 Tibetan bear, except that it appears to be a peculiar s[)ocies. The 

 mere mention that the snow-leopard [Felis uncia) is an inhabitant of 



Fifi. 3.--Orange snub-nosed monkey. 



