38 CARNIVORES. 



sleep much during the day, although they are by no means exclusively nocturnal 

 in their habits. On the ground, their movements are somewhat awkward and 

 ungainly ; and they are generally sluggish and stupid in disposition, and allow 

 themselves to be captured without much difficulty. They hiss and spit like cats 

 when angered, and occasionally utter a low deep growl, somewhat like that of a 

 young bear. According to Mr. Hodgson they drink by lapping with the tongue, 

 but, from observations made on specimens in the Zoological Society's Gardens, this 

 is denied by Mr. A. D. Bartlett, who states that they drink by putting their noses 

 to the ground, after the fashion of a bear. They generally sleep curled up side- 

 ways, with the head concealed by the thick tail, but will also frequently repose 

 by sitting down on their haunches with the head tucked in between the fore-paws, 

 their habits being very similar to those of some of the raccoons. 



In addition to the cries already mentioned, it appears from the account of an 

 observer who watched a pair of these animals high up in the trees near Darjiling, 

 that the panda will at certain times probably the breeding-season utter loud and 

 somewhat unearthly cries, which may be heard at a considerable distance. They 

 call one another by a kind of chirping cry. The panda is a quite harmless, and 

 apparently an almost defenceless animal, its sharp and partially retractile claws 

 being evidently adapted for the purpose of climbing, rather than as weapons of 

 offence or defence. 



The young, generally two in number, are born in a nest formed in some hollow 

 tree or cavity among rocks. They are produced in the spring, and are helpless for 

 a long period. It is stated that the cubs of one litter remain with the parent, till 

 shortly before the birth of a second brood. 



In captivity these animals are gentle and easily tamed, even when not 

 captured until they have attained maturity. In this country they require 

 great care and attention, from their extreme susceptibility to cold; but in 

 the more congenial climate of Calcutta they thrive well in cages placed in the 

 open air. 



It is a remarkable circumstance that an extinct species of panda, about half as 

 large again as the living form, once flourished in England. This is proved by the 

 occurrence of teeth and fragments of jaws in the so-called Red Crag of the Suffolk 

 coast, which belongs to the Pliocene period. It is, therefore, probable that the 

 genus was once widely spread over the Old World ; while its occurrence in England 

 proves that the country must have been formerly thickly covered with forest, and 

 have enjoyed a climate of a subtropical nature. 



THE RACCOONS. 

 Genus Procyon. 



The widely -known raccoons, of which there are two or three species, are 

 the typical representatives of the family, and, like all the remaining forms, they 

 are exclusively American. These animals have a total of forty teeth, or two more 

 than in the panda, owing to the presence of the whole of the four typical pairs of 

 premolars in the lower jaw. The cheek-teeth differ from those of the latter in 



