Matthews described and named the fossil form Ailuropoda fovealls. It is much more probable that the ances-iors of the giant panda found themselves in country almost completely covered with bamboo jungle and that by slow degrees over an immense period of time (for these things take place only extremely slowly in na-lure) turned from a carnivorous diet to a diet consisting almost exclusively of bamboo, the food most readily procurable. At the same time their skulls, teeth and intestinal tracts underwent changes to adapt them to this strange diet, The skull developed bony ridges for the attachment of unusually powerful muscles to work the jaws, which themselves became ex ceptionally heavy and streng, in order to crush and grind to shreds the tough fibres of the bamboo plant. The 7 molar teeth became extremely large and broad to help in this grinding process. Proportionately these teeth are the largest and broadest molars in any ofthe Carnivora. The jaws too, are proportionately far heavier and stronger than in even such carnivores as the grizzly bear, the tiger or the lion. They ave more like those of the hyaena, which have been specially developed for crushing bones. Add to this the strong skeletal development of the giant panda and its immense muscular strength, and there is ne need to suppose that it would not be a match for leopard, for all its gentleness and docility in captivity. It would be a bold leopard, indeed, which would attack the 200 lb. to 400 lb. of solid bone and muscle which constitute the giant panda, to say nothing of the crushing power of the latter's jaws, with which it would easily shatter a Wopard spinal column or make mincemeat of its paw.
Finally in fairness to Mrs. Ruth Harkness, widow of the late Mr. William H. Harkness, who, incidentally, prior to his death had been financing a joint collecting expedition to West China with Mr. Smith, I would like to state that as far as I can gather from independent evidence offered by foreigners who have visited the same area since Mrs. Harkness' visit, her story of how she secured the now famous baby giant panda which she took with her to America is essentially true. She did not apparently enter what Mr. Smith, by what right it is hard to understand, calls his territory, but hunted in country not previously visited by a foreign explorer, a fact which I have on the authority of a young foreigner who later visited the same area. It is conceivable that she employed hunters who had previously been employed by Mr. Smith. There are not too many good hunters in these out-of the way places in China, and, in view of the fact that Mr Smith has been visiting and collecting in that area for the past ten or more years, it would probably be difficult to engage a hunter who had not at some time or other been employed by him. But that would not give him any claim over the men, nor does his having hunted and collected in that general area for so many years give him the right to claim any part of it as his territory, in which other Western collectors and hunters must not trespass.
That Mrs. Harkness, a mere woman, succeeded where many men had failed was a feat greatly to her credit, but it must have been rather a bitter pill for some of the male hunters and explorers who had missed this big prize of the Chinese-Tibetan borderland. Personally, I accept Mrs. Harkness' story, vouched for by at least two trustworthy witnesses, and am glad to give her the fullest possible credit for accom-pushing something which it is doubtful if any mere man could have done, for that baby panda needed all the tender care and nursing that a human infant needs in order to get it alive to the coast and across the sea to America. I maintain that only a woman has the necessary devotion, patience and understanding of infants that were required in this case.
I think in fairness to Mrs, Harkness these facts should be known, and that she should receive the credit which is due her, Mr. Smith's. original announcement that contrary to her agreement with him, she had gone, probably unwittingly, into his ter tory, and purchased the live ba panda from his hunters, an announcement allegedly based on letters received from his native hunters, has lead to such statements in the world's press, especially that of the United States, as that Mrs, Harkness stole Mr. Smith's panda; that she did not find the baby panda as she said she did, but pure ed it from the native hunters without herself going into the wilds at all, and so on and so forth.
Harkness with having received The same press has cee Mrs. much as U.S.$25,000 for\her panda; but in a recent letter from Mrs.
Harkness herself she says she received U.S.$8,750. This she is using for another expedition to West China. being due back in Shanghai on August 10 next.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.