624 THE CARNIVORES 



are generally of more or less exclusively nocturnal habits. It is noteworthy that, 

 with the exception of one Old- World genus, no remains of this family have ever 

 been discovered beyond the limits of the New World. 



THE PANDA 

 Genus sElurus 



The curious animal represented in the accompanying illustration, and known as 

 the panda {^Elurus fulgens, ) is one in regard to whose serial position there has 

 been much diversity of opinion. It was at one time placed in the Bear family, next 

 to the parti-colored bear ; while it has also been regarded as the representative of a 

 distinct family by itself. Mr. Blanford has, however, come to the conclusion that 

 its true position is in the raccoon family, and it is probable that this view will be 

 pretty generally adopted in the future. 



The panda, or, as it is often called, the red cat-bear, is restricted to the South- 

 eastern Himalayas, and may be compared in size to a large cat. Externally it is 

 characterized by its broad and rounded head, it which the muzzle is extremely 

 short, the small eyes are directed forward, and the ears are of considerable size. 

 The stout limbs are furnished with large, curved, and sharp claws, which can be 

 partially retracted ; and the soles of the large feet are covered with hair. The tail 

 is long and rather thick, its length being nearly equal to that of the body, or rather 

 more than two-thirds of that of the head and body together. The fur is long and 

 thick, with a woolly under- fur. 



In color, a large portion of the fur of the panda is a bright, rusty red, of some- 

 what variable shade ; this color prevailing on the back, the upper part of the head, 

 and the darker- rings on t4ie tail. The forehead is of a lighter tint of red; as are 

 also the paler rings on the tail, its tip being black. The under parts and the inner 

 surfaces of the limbs are black, tending to a brownish tint on the abdomen. The 

 face, like the lower lip, is white, except for a vertical stripe of red proceeding from 

 each eye to the angle of the mouth. Occasionally, however, as in the specimen 

 here figured, there is also a red stripe running down the middle of the nose. The 

 inner surface of the ears are also white, as are also the claws. A large male panda 

 measured twenty-four inches from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail ; while 

 the length of the tail was seventeen inches without the hair at the end, and nine- 

 teen and one-half inclusive of the hair. Other specimens measured respectively 

 twenty and twenty-two inches to the root of the tail. 



It is, however, not only externally that the panda is a remarkable creature. 

 In its skull and teeth it is very unlike other Carnivores. Thus the skull is remarka- 

 bly short, with the profile from the front teeth to the occiput forming a regular 

 curve, which approximates to a semicircle. The lower jaw is also remarkable for its 

 extremely-convex and regularly-curved inferior border, and also for the great length 

 of the portion which ascends on the sides of the skull. The total number of teeth 

 in the panda is thirty-eight, of which, on each sides of the jaws, f are incisors, \ 

 canines, f premolars, and f molars. The canines, or tusks, are of no great size, but 



