226 THE FAUNA OF THE CHINESE PROVINCE 



A small banded civet from Tonkin has been made the type of a peculiar genus, 

 under the name of Chrotogcde owstoni. It resembles the banded Hemigale 

 hardwickei of the Malay countries in colouring, but is distinguished by the 

 spatulate crowns of its milk-incisor teeth — a difference which is regarded as of 

 generic value. 



Even more noteworthy is the short-tailed panda (JEluropus melanoleucus) of 

 Sze-chuan and Kansu, long regarded as an aberrant bear, but the skeleton of which 

 indicates relationship with the long-tailed Himalayan panda. This strange animal, 

 which has a rudimentary tail and thickly haired soles, is white in colour, with a 

 black ring round each eye and thick eai"s, shoulders, and limbs, and inhabits 

 bamboo-jungle. The true bears are represented by the blue bear of Tibet (Ursus 

 pruinosus) and a larger species, both allied to the brown bear, as well as by 



X. 



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RACCOON-DOG. 



local races of the Himalayan black bear and the Malay bear in Tibet and Sze- 

 chuan. A bear from the Tian Shan (Ursus leuconyx) appears to be the Asiatic 

 representative of the American grisly. There is also in the Altai and Siberia 

 a wild dog (Canis primcevus). 



Among a large number of hollow-horned ruminants inhabiting 

 Yak. . . 



central Asia, the foremost place is occupied by the yak (Bos grunniens), 



whose habitat includes Tibet and part of the Chinese province of Kan-su. The yak, 



which appears to be most nearly allied to the bison, is distinguished from all other 



oxen by its peculiar coat and tail. On the head and upper part of the rump the 



hair is comparatively short, but long hair covers the under-parts of the body and 



extends over the shoulders and thighs, falling low on the hocks. On the chest is a 



tuft of long hair, and the tail, which does not generally reach below the hocks, is 



very bushy. The general colour is dark blackish brown, with white round the 



muzzle, and in old age tending to grizzled grey on the crown of the head and 



throat. The wild yak is a large animal, old bulls probably reaching nearly 6 feet 



