THE PANDA. 317 



muzzle and cheeks ; the ears are externally black-red, internally pro- 

 vided with long white hair. The fur is not only handsome in appear- 

 ance, but is very thick, fine, and warm in texture, being composed of a 

 double set of hairs, the one forming a thick, woolly covering to the skin, 

 and the other composed of long glistening hairs that pierce through the 

 wool, and give an exquisitely rich coloring to the surface of the coat. 

 The hair on the soles of the feet is often snowy-white, contrasting 

 strangely with the black paws. 



The Panda or Wah, so named from its cry, is a native of Nepaul, 

 where it lives in the mountains on trees near the Alpine streams, two to 

 three thousand feet above the sea level. The Panda resembles in its 

 habits the common racoon ; when angry, it sits up like a bear, and utters 

 a very peculiar snorting noise, although its ordinary voice is like the 

 twittering of a bird. Its food is chiefly vegetable. Simpson, who 

 brought one to London, never saw it eat animal food, and Bartlett 

 says it refused raw and cooked chicken and rabbit, but loved to eat 

 young rose-leaves and buds. The latter took great care of the Panda, 

 and lestored it to health, but it never betrayed any gratitude for his 

 exertions. It continued as irritable as ever, assumed a hostile attitude 

 at his approach, and struck about with its fore-paws like a cat. As com- 

 pared witn the other members of the family, the Panda is most like the 

 Kinkajou, in its movements and manner of eating, but the Kinkajou far 

 surpasses it in activity and, to all appearance, in intelligence. 



An allied genus, ^Eluropus, has been recently described by Milne- 

 Edwards, from the mountains of Thibet ; it is larger than the Panda, and 

 its color is nearly all white. 



