164 



Tapir is a specific difference difficult to be accounted for in the present 

 state of knowledge respecting the natural habits of the two species, 

 but further examination of the Sumatran Tapir seems wanting to 

 prove that it is compensated for by an increased size of ccecum in the 

 American species." 



At the request of tlie Chairman, Mr. Spooner adverted to the case 

 of a Leopard lately living at the Society's Gardens, It had been 

 suspected to be labouring under ascites, but on its death its bulk 

 was found to have been occasioned by an excessive deposition of fat 

 both in the abdomen and thorax. A conversation ensued among the 

 Members present ; and Mr. Spooner having stated his belief, corro- 

 borated by his having observed similar results in Dogs, that distant 

 periods of feeding with full meals occasioned corpulence and disease 

 of skin, while frequent and more sparing meals led to the recovery 

 of health and activity, it appeared to the Committee desirable that 

 this proposition should be submitted to the test of direct experiment. 



It was therefore ordered. 



That it be suggested to the Council to select, for the purpose of 

 experimenting as to the best mode of feeding them, at least two 

 feline animals: that one be fed in the manner now practised at the 

 Society's Gardens, viz. with one full meal daily, and that the other 

 be fed twice a day with one half the quantity of flesh now given for 

 a meal ; that notes be made of the circumstances of the animals at 

 the time of commencing the experiment, of the quantity of food 

 taken daily by each, of the times of feeding, and of the results; 

 and that reports thereon be made monthly during the continuance 

 of the experiment : that to render the results of the experiment 

 more conclusive it be tried on the greatest number of any one spe- 

 cies that the state of the Society's collection will permit : and that, 

 so far as the collection will allow, similar experiments, varying only 

 according to circumstances, be tried on animals of other carnivorous 

 genera. 



