I2S 



NATURE 



[June 7, 1894 



Some of the more noticeable among the recent addi- 

 tions we now propose to bring before the readers 

 of this journal by illustrations drawn from the life 

 by Mr. J. Smit, the principal artist employed by the 

 Zoological Society. 



(i) The Ounce or Snow-Leopard {Fclis undo). — The 

 Society's lion-house alwayscontains a good representative 

 seriesof the larger species of cats {Felis), such as lions, 

 tigers, pumas, leopards, and cheetahs. .AH do well in 

 confinement, and probably live much longer in their cages 

 in the Regent's Park than ihey would do in their native 

 wi'ds, subject " to the struggle for existence." The 

 jaguar is certainly less easy to obtain, and perhaps less 

 suited to captivity than those already mentioned, but has 

 always a place in the series. But the ounce, or " snow- 

 leapard,'' as the Indian sportsmen call Felis uncia, is a 

 much more difficult subject to deal with. In the first 

 place, the snowy interior of Central Asia, where it lives, 

 is by no means easy of access. In the second place, the 

 animal when captured must "pass through the fire" of 

 an Indian sea-port on its way home, and is not unlikely 

 to succumb to such an ordeal. It was consequently, in 

 spite of the e.^cerlions of their many Indian friends and 



ing northwards to the Altai and to Amoor-land, and even, 

 it is said by Schrenck, into the Island of Saghalin. But 

 the story of the occurrence of the ounce in Asia Minor, 

 credited by Mr. D. G. Elliot, who has figure.l this species 

 in his " Monograph of the /t-//V/ir," is, as has been subse- 

 quently shown, altogether apocryphal, the animal mis- 

 taken for the ounce in this district being simply a pale 

 variety of the leopard {Felis pardus). 



(2) The Cunning liissaris {Bassaris astnta). — The 

 racoons and their allies form a peculiar family of 

 carnivora restricted to the New World with one special 

 e.'cception, ^i7//r«i of the Himalayas. One of the most 

 singular and interesting genera of this group is Bassaris, 

 of Central .America, of which two species are known, B. 



Fig. 2. —The Cunning Bassaris. 



correspondents, not until 1891 that the Zoological Society 

 acquired their first specimen of the ounce. This, however, 

 was a mere kif.en, in feeble condition, and, notwithstand- 

 ing the care lavished on it, did not live many weeks. But 

 in the spring of the present year the Society were more 

 fortunate, having received a fine young male of this 

 animal from the Western Himalayas. It was originally 

 captured, when quite small, by the retainers of Thakur 

 Debi Chand, a native chieftain of Gundia, in l.ahaul, in 

 the Western Himalayas, and was sent as a present to 

 Mrs. Mackay, of Uunbar House, Kullu. Mrs. Mackay 

 made a complete pet of it, and brought it up most care- 

 fully by hand. It is now nearly full-grown, measuring 

 upwards of six feet in length, and is in splendid health 

 and condition. 



In its native state the ounce is said to live amongst the 

 rocks at an elevation of 9000 feet and upwards, on the 

 borders of the snows in the Himalayas and Thibet. It 

 preys upon the wild sheep and goats, and probably also 

 upon the rodents that inhabit these inhospitable regions. 

 In similar situations the ounce is said to be found 

 throughout the higher districts of Central Asia, extend- 



NO. 128 .J. VOL. 50] 



I-iii. 3.— The Grey Coly-itrikc. 



astiilu of Texas, California, and Northern Mexico, and 

 its southern representative, B. sumichras'.i of Southern 

 Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. It is the former 

 of these two species of which an example has recently 

 been acquired by the Zoological Society after a period o( 

 forty years, during which, so far as it is known, no 

 bassaris has reached Kurope alive. 



The cunning bassaris is of about the size of a small 

 domestic cat, but more slender in form, and provided 

 with a long cylindrical white tail, which is crossed by 

 I seven or eight distinct black rings, rendering it the most 

 ! conspicuous feature of the animal. In a state of nature 

 the bassaris lives among wooded rocks, but often takes 

 up its abode close to houses, and proceeds to ravage the 

 pigeons and poultry. The genus Bissaris was originally 



