228 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



of that machan in less than no time. The local shikari who built the machan 

 got a severe talking to, for on two sides and behind it was entirely 

 unscreened, I may say I was using a double '577 magnum, by Jeffery, burning 

 6f drams — a most accurate weapon by daylight. I used solid soft lead 

 bullets in the righ barrel and hollow brass-tubed ones in the left. It 

 was one of these that finished hioQ, hitting him behind the last rib 

 on the left side and tearing his interior economy to smithereens. Clumsy 

 shooting it is true, though I fired off a rest and was quite cool. One 

 cartridge would have sufficed had I been able to get in a shot while there 

 was still light enough to see the foresight ; and the erratic shooting is not 

 in the least attributable to the rifle. I wetted the foresight and rubbed the 

 end of a sulphur match on it ; it glowed for about a second, but then went 

 out and left me more bewildered as to where to aim than ever. But that a 

 wary old panther should have returned within half an hour or so to a kill 

 over which he had twice been fired at, and that a hy^na should have dared 

 to go near the carcase of a panther, surprises me. Shot No. 1 (solid 

 bullet) went first over the panther's shoulder as he lay alongside the goat ; 

 No. 2 (hollow) struck the ground between his forelegs ; of No. 3 

 (solid) we could find no traces whatever ; and Mo. 4 (hollow) hit 

 as above related. It was lucky it did not hit a bone, but being propelled by 

 6J drams, it has a very fair penetration (9 inches into loose sand) before 

 breaking up. Still it was rather risky work on a dark night, and I should 

 have been happier had the solid bullets done their work. I should like to 

 know if any members of the Society have ever had a similar experience V 



C. D. LESTER, Liedt., 

 17th Bo. Infantry. 

 Rewa Kantha, April, 1898. 



No. XXI.— QUERY. 



Is any living Shark or Dog-fish called " Chagrin," or " Shagreen," or " Sagri, 

 in any living language, and particularly in any Oriental language ? Their 

 skins and those of rays, and of horses and asses dressed to imitate them, are 

 so called from Persia to Portugal and further. But I want an instance 

 of the name being applied to the fish itself. 



W. F. SINCLAIR (late I.C.S.). 

 102, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 

 London, S.W., May, 1898, 



No, XXII.— A BRACE OF TIGERS AT ONE SHOT. 



For a really appalling fluke I think the following will be hard to beat :— 

 On July 25th, a Malay, named Said, went into the jungle at a place called 

 Kepong, near Lue, to cut firewood. He took with him an old single-barrel 



