49 



March 27, 1832. 



John Edward Gray, Esq., in the Chair, 



A Report from Devereux Fuller, the Head Keeper, was read. It 

 was communicated to the Committee by the President. 



It referred to the experiments on the feeding of carnivorous Mam- 

 malia recommended by the Committee on Dec. 13, 1831, (Part I., 

 p. 164,) and subsequently ordered by the Council to be tried. The 

 animals subjected to the experiment were two Leopards and two 

 Hyaenas: the whole of them were males. 



On Jan. I 1 the Leopards were weighed. No. 1 weighed 9 libs. : 

 it was fed in the usual manner with 4lbs. of beef daily in one meal 

 given in the evening. No. 2 weighed lOO^lbs. : it was supplied with 

 2Ibs. of beef at eight o'clock in the morning, and with a like quantity 

 at the same hour in the evening daily. On Feb. 16, (after an interval 

 of five weeks,) they were again weighed. No. 1 had gained in weight 

 lib. : No. 2 had diminished in weight ^Ib. No alteration was ob- 

 served in the latter animal as regarded his daily exercise ; but he be- 

 came more ferocious than he had previously been, and was particu- 

 larly violent. 



On Dec. 23 the Hyccnas were weighed. No. 1 weighed SGlbs. : it 

 was fed as usual with 3lbs. of beef daily at one meal in the evening. 

 No. 2 weighed 93lbs. : it was supplied with the same quantity of beef 

 daily, divided into two equal portions, one of which was given in the 

 morning and the other in the evening. On Feb. 16, (after an inter- 

 val of eight weeks,) they were again weighed ; and No. 1 was found 

 to have increased in weight lib., while No. 2 had diminished in 

 weight lib. The latter animal was observed to take less exercise than 

 he had previously been accustomed to, and slept more than usual : 

 his temper was not affected, and he did not exhibit unusual signs of 

 hunger. 



During the continuance of the experiment all the animals were 

 fasted one day in each week in common with the other carnivorous 

 species kept in the Menagerie. 



From these experiments it appears |that carnivorous Mammalia fed 

 with two meals daily, do not continue in equally good condition with 

 those which have the same quantity of flesh daily in one meal only. It 

 further appeai-s that in one instance (that of the Leopard,) the temper 

 changed for the worse, and thus animals of the genus Felis might be- 

 come more dangerous in a Menagerie from the ferocity they would 

 acquire under such treatment ; and that in another instance the habits 

 were altered as regarded exercise, a diminution of which, in confined 



[No. XVII.] ZoOL. Soc. Proceedings of the Comm. of Science. 



