r Giant Panda
(_Aeluropus melanoleucus_).]

The parti-coloured bear or giant panda (_Aeluropus melanoleucus_, fig.
6) of eastern Tibet and north-west China forms in some degree a
connecting link between the bears and the true panda, although placed
by Professor E.R. Lankester in the same family as the latter. In the
number of the teeth, and to some extent in the character of the
molars, as well as in the abbreviated tail, _Aeluropus_ resembles the
bears, but in the structure of the sectorial tooth, the presence of an
extra radial carpal bone, and the osteology generally, it is more like
the panda. In the absence of an alisphenoid canal to the skull it
differs both from the latter and the bears, and thereby resembles the
raccoons; while in having a perforation at the lower end of the
humerus, it agrees with the spectacled bear, the panda and raccoons.
The dentition is i. 3/3, c. 1/1, p. 4/3, m. 2/3; total 40; premolars
increasing in size from first to last, and two-rooted except the
first; the first upper molar with quadrate crown, broader than long;
and the second larger than the first. Skull with the zygomatic arches
and sagittal crest immensely developed, ascending branch of lower jaw
very high, giving great space for attachment of temporal muscle, and
facial portion short. Bony palate not extending behind the last molar.
No alisphenoid canal. Feet bear-like, but soles more hairy, and
perhaps less completely plantigrade. Fur long and thick; and tail
extremely short. Humerus with a perforation on the inner side of the
lower end; a very large extra radial carpal bone. The colour of this
strange animal is black and white (fig. 6).

With the panda (_Aelurus fulgens_) we reach an undoubted
representative of the _Procyonidae_, or raccoon tribe, differing,
however, from all the rest except the doubtful _Aeluropus_, in its
Asiatic habitat. If the latter be included, the family may be defined
as follows. Molars 3/2, except in _Aeluropus_, with blunt or sharp
cusps; no alisphenoid canal, except in _Aelurus_; humerus generally
with a foramen; feet plantigrade; tail, except in _Aeluropus_, long
and generally ringed.

In the panda the dentition is i. 3/3, c. 1/1, p. 3/4, m. 2/2; total
38; the first lower molar being minute and deciduous, and the upper
molars broad with numerous and complicated cusps. Vertebrae: C. 7,
D. 14, L. 6, S. 3, Ca. 18. Skull high