0O4.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



217 



David, succeeded many years aijo in penetratinix into the 

 heart of the Moiipin district of Eastern Tibet, whence lie 

 brought back a number of mammals belonging to types 

 previouslj' unknown to science. Practically all that has 

 resulted from subsequent exploration and collection is to 

 prove the extension of the range of these peculiar types 

 into Western China, and to add to them a few species 

 differing only in comparatively trivial features. The 

 absence of any distinctly new types in this West Chinese 

 fauna seems to point to the improbability of any striking 

 novelty among the larger types of animal' life remaining 

 to be discovered in Tibet. 



Of the strange animals first brought from Eastern 

 Tibet by .\bbe David, and subsetjuently obtained by Mr. 

 Styan in Western China, by far the most remarkable is 



Fij:. I.— Great Pand;i. 



the creature now known to naturalists as the great panda 

 (.■Eluropus melanohucits), although at one time denominated 

 the parti-coloured bear (fig. i). In appearance this animal 

 is, indeed, strangely bear-like, although far inferior 

 in bodily size to most members of the IJrsida ; the rudi- 

 mentary tail, plantigrade feet, short ears, and broad head 

 being all ursine features. Moreover, it is not a little 

 remarkable that a species of true bear {Ursiis pniiiwsus) 

 inhabiting Tibet not infrequently presents a type of 

 coloration approximating to that of the great panda, in 

 which the legs and under-parts, together with a band 

 across the shoulders and a ring round each eye, are sooty 

 black, while all the rest is pure white. On the other 

 hand, when the face of the great panda is compared with 

 that of the much smaller and long-tailed arboreal animal 

 inhabiting the Eastern Himalaya, and known as the true 

 panda (.blunts fulgens), a marked resemblance can be 

 detected, and when careful comparison between the teeth 



Fig. 2. —Teeth of right side of jaw of (ireat i*anda. 



and skeletons of the two animals is made, it becomes 

 apparent that the great panda is much more nearly related 

 to the long-tailed species than it is to the bears. In fact, 

 these two animals appear to be the Old W^jrld representa- 

 tives of the raccoons and coatis of America, and thus 

 afford one more instance of the close affinity existing 

 between the faunas of Eastern Asia and North America. 

 The teeth of the great panda (fig. 2) are most beautiful 

 and interesting objects — on the whole approaching much 

 nearer to those of the lesser panda than to the ursine 

 type. Of the habits of the great panda, we are at present 

 in complete ignorance ; but on this point we may hope 

 in time to be enlightened by the opening-up of Tibet. 



Whether we may e\cr expect to sec such a wonderful 

 creature alive in the Regent's Park, it is diflicult even to 

 guess. Probably tlie great panda is a native of the more 

 or less wooded districts of ICastern Tibet, and not of the 

 arid and elevated central plateau. 



The same must undoubtedly be the case with the 

 Tibetan snub-nosed monkey {Rhhioj^ithecus roxellatuv) 

 (fig. 3), which was likewise the lirst-known representa- 

 tive of a new generic type discovered in the Moupin 

 district of Eastern Tibet by the .\bbc David. It has, 

 however, been subsecpicntly obtained in Szechuan, while 

 a second representative of the genus has been discovered 

 in WW. China and a third in the mountains bordorin" 



rtta 



^mmm 



Fig .?.— Orange Snub-nosed Monkey. 



the Mekong River. That the Tibetan representative 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 the 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 which these strange 

 monkeys are found. 



Nothing special need be said with regard to the above- 

 mentioned Tibetan bear, except that it appears to be a 

 peculiar species. The mere mention that the snow- 

 leopard (FcUs uncia) is an inhabitant of the Tibet plateau 

 must likewise suffice, seeing that this handsome cat has 

 a wide range in Central Asia. 



Several species ofdeer are found in or near Tibet, although 

 all of them appear to be confined to the wooded districts 

 bordering the arid central plateau. The finest of these 

 is undoubtedly the shou {Ccrvus ajftnis), a species allied 

 to the red deer, inhabiting the forests somewhere near 

 the head of the Chuinbi Valley, in Sikhim. This deer is 

 very rare in collections, where it is represented n^ainly 

 by skulls and antlers, but it is probable that specimens 

 will before long be forthconu'ng. A young individual is 

 stated to have been killed during the early days of the 

 Tibet expedition. Thorold's deer (C. alhirostris) is a 

 rather smaller and much darker coloured species, readily 

 distinguished by its white muzzle and the comparatively 

 simple antlers. It exhibits the relatively heavy build 

 characteristic of species inhabiting cold countries. This 

 fine deer was first obtained in the wooded districts to 

 the north of Lhasa by the Russian explorer I^rzewalski, 

 and subsequently by the English traveller Dr. Thorold, 

 to whom the Pritish Museum is indebted for its speci- 

 men. The third deer peculiar to the country is the 

 Tibetan tufted deer (Elaphodus ccphalophus), a species of 

 the approximate size of a roebuck, and typifying a 

 peculiar genus. In general character this deer is nearly 

 related to the Indian and Malay muntjacs {Cci'viiliis), the 



