The one at present in the London "Zoo" is thus described: "Rich
red-chestnut in colour on the upper surface, jet black as to the lower
surface, the limbs also black, the snout and inside of ears white;
the tail bushy, reddish-brown in colour and indistinctly ringed."

SIZE.--Head and body 22 inches; tail 16; height about 9; weight about
8 lbs.

Jerdon has epitomised Hodgson's description of the habits of this
animal as follows: "The Wah is a vegetivorous climber, breeding and
feeding chiefly on the ground, and having its retreat in holes and
clefts of rock. It eats fruits, roots, sprouts of bamboo, acorns,
&c.; also, it is said, eggs and young birds; also milk and ghee, which
it is said to purloin occasionally from the villages. They feed
morning and evening, and sleep much in the day. They are excellent
climbers, but on the ground move rather awkwardly and slowly. Their
senses all appear somewhat blunt, and they are easily captured. In
captivity they are placid and inoffensive, docile and silent, and
shortly after being taken may be suffered to go abroad. They prefer
rice and milk to all other food, refusing animal food, and they are
free from all offensive odour. They drink by lapping with the tongue,
spit like cats when angered, and now and then utter a short deep grunt
like a young bear. The female brings forth two young in spring. They
usually sleep on the side, and rolled into a ball, the head concealed
by the bushy tail." (For the full account see 'Jour. As. Soc. Beng.'
vol. xvi. p. 1113.)

Mr. Bartlett, who has studied the habits of the specimen in the London
Gardens, says that in drinking it sucks up the fluids like a bear
instead of licking it up like a dog or cat, which disagrees with what
Hodgson states above. "When offended it would rush at Mr. Bartlett,
and strike at him with both feet, the body being raised like a bear's,
and the claws projecting."

General Hardwicke was the first to discover this animal, which he
described in a paper read before the Linnaean Society on the 6th of
November 1821, but it was not published for some years, and in the
meanwhile M. Duvaucel sent one to M. F. Cuvier, who introduced it
first to the world. Some years ago I had a beautiful skin of one
offered to me for sale at Darjeeling by some Bhotias, but as it was
redolent of musk and other abominations quite foreign to its innocent
inodorous self, I declined to give the high price wanted for it.

SEMI-PLANTIGRADES.