Persian Tiger 287 



the Euphrates. The Arabs say it is found in Arabia ; but of this we have 

 at least no evidence. Occasionally it crosses the Euphrates, and a few 

 years ago a lion's carcase was brought into Damascus. Between the Lower 

 Tigris and Euphrates they still abound." 



THE PERSIAN TIGER 



{Fc/is t'lgris virgatii) ' 



The Persian tiger, which was long ago distinguished by Illiger as a 

 distinct race under the above name, is a small and somewhat rough-haired 

 variety of F. tigris. It is represented by a mounted specimen in the British 

 Museum. Of its distribution Mr. W. T. Blanford writes as follows in 

 Eastern Persia : — 



" The tiger is only found in Persia in the Caspian provinces, Mazan- 

 daran, and Ghilan, lying to the north of the Elburz Mountains, and 

 corresponding in part to the ancient Hyrcania. These provinces, unlike 

 the plateau of Persia, are covered with dense forest, and in them the tiger 

 ranges up to an elevation of at least 5000 to 6000 feet. To the westward 

 it extends as far as the Caucasus and Mount Ararat, being found not far 

 from Tiflis." 



With regard to the occurrence of tigers in the Caucasus, Dr. Satunin, 

 in his ott-quoted paper, observes that formerly these animals used to range 

 as far as the crest ot the Great Caucasus, and that one was killed near 

 Tiflis in 1835. In the Talish plain, adjoining Persia, on the Caspian, as 

 well as in the neighbouring foot-hills, it is still far from rare, but in 

 Russian Talish it is but seldom seen. 



A description of two specimens of the Persian tiger imported from 

 Tiflis to Berlin is given by Dr. Matschie in the Sitzungs- Berichte Ges. 

 naturfor. Berlin, 1897, p. 13. 



