CARNIVORA. 215 



.SHINING PANDA. 



PLATE XVII. 







Ailurvs fulyens. 



Is in size equal to a large cat, with a dense fur ; 

 above golden fulvous, more red on the shoulder, 

 and below dark sepia ; the head short, whitish on 

 the sides and forehead ; the tail rather long, very 

 bushy and obscurely barred with brown. Inhabits 

 the forests of the lower Himalaya range. 



Genus CERCOLEPTES. The Poto. The Kinkajou 

 of Buffon may represent, in the Western World, the 

 Arctictis of the East, both having plantigrade feet 

 and prehensile tails. Dentition f , \-\, f -f = 36 : 

 the upper molars with flattened crowns, show a de- 

 cided preference for vegetable diet, although known 

 also to suck the blood of animals, but scarcely to eat 

 them. Mr. Pennant, under the name of Mexican 

 Weazel or Kinkajou, describes a true Cercoleptes ; 

 having by inadvertence skipped a line in translating 

 Buffon, where the naked flesh-coloured skin applies 

 to the hind feet, and not to the tail, as the English 

 version represents it.* 



* Elle eat grosse (la queue) a I'origine du trar^on et va en 

 dimiimant imperceptiblement, et Jinit en pointe a 1'tjxtremite. 



