7702 Quadrupeds. 



wbicb constitutes its principal food. * * * Tlie inhabitants of botb banks of the Usuri 

 are employed in agriculture, wbicb tbe extent and fecundity of their lands render 

 very successful. Tbey have bred cattle fur ciiliivating tbeir fields, but being often 

 attacked by tigers it is very tlifficiili to keep cattle in any number." See also Atkin- 

 son's ' Siberia,' and Huniboldi's notice of tigers in Northern Asia, in ' Asie Centrule.' 

 However, tbey do not quite range to America, albeit tbe poet Campbell places them 

 on liie banks of Lake Erie! 



" On Erie's banks, where tigers steal along ;" 



nor to Africa, though Sir Waiter Scotl locales them in "Lybia!" The Russian 

 expeiiitmn employed ou the survey of Lake Aral found them troublesome, even there, 

 in mid-winter! Here it may be remarked that tigers appear to be fast multiplying in 

 Penang, where notices of the occurrence of this animal have several times appeared in 

 the journals from the middle of 1869. In the island of Singapore, where they are now 

 so numerous and destructive, they made their first appearance five or six years after 

 the establishment of the British settlement ; and but three or four years ago Dr. Oxley 

 wrote : — " Tbe channel between Penang and tbe main is two miles broad ; and this 

 has been suflficient to exclude the tiger, for although there have been examples of 

 individuals having crossed over, it has been in an exhausted state, and tbey have been 

 immediately destroyed." Since this was written the tiger would appear to have fairly 

 established itself on the island. In another communication, dated December 8tb, 

 Mr. Swinboe notices two other species of Felis. He remarks : — " A wild Felis is 

 found in Hongkong marked like the domestic cat, but much larger; and an animal 

 known to Anglo-Chinese as tbe 'tiger-cat;'" from tbe description sent, evidently 

 F. macrocelis, or F. macroceloides if this be distinct, or an animal very closely akin. 

 A specimen is jiromised shortly. — E. Bti/lfi, in a Note appended to a Report on Mam- 

 malia transmitted to him by Mr. Stvinhoe, of Amoy. 



New Chinese Deer P — Mr. Swinhue writes: — "A stag has just arrived here 

 from the north, and is in tbe possession of a gentleman next door to me. It stands 

 nearly three feet at the shoulder, has a short head, and horns about ten or eleven 

 inches long. Its face and over the eyes are black; neck and ears blackish gray. 

 Median line of back black, blending on the sides with blackish chestnut. Legs black, 

 getting gray towards the hoof. Tail and buttocks white." Pretty clearly tbe Siberian 

 roe {Capreolus pi/i/urgus, Pallas). But what is the so-called " roebuck" of the Amur 

 territory, noticed in the 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society ' for 1858 (vol. 

 xxviii. p. 397) ? Cervus Wallichii, or a kindred species? "Tbe roebuck," we are 

 told, " is an animal resembling the elk, but has a smaller body, although the head is 

 comparatively larger. Its flesh is savoury and nutritious ; but the principal value of 

 this animal lies in its borns, which contain, at a certain period of the year (I think in 

 March), a marrow of |ieculiar medicinal properties, which is highly prized by the 

 Chinese, who, at the best season of the year, pay as much as sixty roubles (£9 10s.) for 

 a pair of good horns," &c. This animal is mentioned in addition to " the elk," the 

 common roe and otbers. Further particulars of the Chinese deer have been 

 received from Mr. Swinhoe, dated December 8th, 1859. " The skull I sent you," he 

 remarks, " was that of an elderly buck, one of a pair in the possession of a gentleman 

 here. It died while in his care, and its skin was so worthless that I did not keep it. 

 The doe is still alive and in good health, and from her personal appearance I observe 

 that your surmise as to the summer duration of the white spots is quite correct. She 



