488 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII I. 



On several occasions the dogs had died after vomiting. I have never actually 

 known a case of a dog surviving after vomiting, which is undoubtedly due to 

 an over-dose of the poison ; but it is quite conceivable that an over-dose might 

 act rapidly on the stomach and by an immediate emission almost all the poison 

 might be got rid off: such action is not unknown in the case of other poisons. 



I think Mr. Witt will produce more than one vomit for 104 grains of poison 

 (" oh monstrous, but one ha'penny worth of bread to this intolerable deal of 

 sack") if he will dilute his poison and use far smaller doses. One-fourth of 

 a grain is the maximum dose an adult man can take with safety, and this only 

 after having been educated up to it by previously taking smaller doses. 



I am unable to believe that the dogs Mr. Witt poisoned actually died and 

 were carried off by their companions ; to begin with, the vomit was found 

 apparently at a considerable distance from the kill and the dog must have been 

 alive when it vomited. 



I can quite understand a mother of a dying cub trying to drag it away, but 

 my experience of the pack is that they are singularly indifferent to the fate 

 of their companions. 



Mr. Witt's concluding note regarding dogs having actually attacked a human 

 being is of great interest and probably the first record of such an extraordinary 

 event having taken place. 



Medical men are unfortunately unable to throw much more light on the 

 question of strychnine poisoning than their lay-brethren as they are not in the 

 habit of administrating fatal doses ; I once, however, witnessed a doctor 

 administer half a grain to an old dog. It expired in about 30 seconds. 



A. A. DUNBAR BRANDER, I.F.S. 



Hoshangaead, 6th Septemher 1907. 



(From " The Indian Forester;' No. 9, Vol XXXII, September 1907.) 



No. Ill —THE BHUTAN TAKIN. 



Sporstmen will be interested to learn that the Bhutan takin proves to be 

 distinct from the typical Budorcas taxieolor of the Mishmi Hills, a circum- 

 stance which would naturally be expected, when we remember that the two 

 areas are sundered by deep river gorges, which form, of course, impassable 

 barriers to such highzone animals. 



On a previous occasion reference was made in the Field to two pairs of takin 

 horns from the upper part of the Chumbi Valley in Bhutan, sent to the British 

 Museum by Mr. J. Claude White, Commissioner of Sikhim. These horns were 

 then attached to the skin, and from the relatively small size of the larger pair 

 I came to the conclusion that they respectively belonged to a cow and a calf. 

 Subsequently the two skulls and skeletons reached this country, when I found, 

 from the conditions of the teeth, that both animals were adults, although one 

 was considerably older than the other. This suggested that they were really 

 a male and a female, and this was confirmed, not only by the evidence of the 

 skins, but by the testimony of Mr. White himself, who was in this country last 

 summer. While the horns of the bull, as being much the older animal of the 



