272 MESSRS. DANFORD AND ALSTON ON [Mar. 20, 
Canon Tristram, the common Shrew of North Palestine is C. aranea 
auct.'; and closely allied (if distinct) species have been described 
from Persia and Georgia. 
3. ERINACEUS EUROPZUS, Linn. ? 
A Hedgehog which is not uncommon in various parts of the 
country probably belongs to this species, which is known to 
inhabit the Lebanon and the Caucasus ; but specimens obtained in 
the Smyrna district on Danford’s visit to the country were not 
preserved. 
4. Fevis uncta, Schreb. Kaplan. 
Not common, but generally distributed in the mountains near 
Smyrna and on those bordering the southern coasts. The Ounce of 
Asia Minor was specifically separated by Valenciennes under the 
name of Felis tulliana*, but our friend Mr. D. G. Elliot, who has 
examined the typical specimens, can find no trustworthy distinctive 
characters. 
This animal, though generally very shy, sometimes shows great 
daring. On one occasion, after firing several shots at a small herd of 
Wild Goats, Danford was following up a wounded male, which shortly 
afterwards fell over a cliff. To reach the spot where he lay, a 
circuit had to be made, which took not more than ten minutes ; but 
on coming to the place nothing remained but a pool of blood and a 
few handfuls of hairs; the tracks of two Ounces were easily dis- 
cernible in the patches of snow; nor did he ever see any thing more 
either of the Goat or the thieves. The natives both trap and shoot 
Ounces, and great value is set upon their skins. 
5. *Fexis catus, Linn. Yaban tedi (Wild Cat). 
A male and female of this species were obtained among the rocks 
near Zebil, at an elevation of 3000-4000 feet. The natives say they 
are not uncommon. Their principal food appears to be a species of 
Mouse (Mus mystacinus, see p. 279), of which no less than four- 
teen were found in the stomach of one of the Cats trapped. In these 
skins the ground-colour is of a clearer grey, and the dark markings 
of the flanks are much more broken up into distinct spots, than in 
European examples of the species. 
[*Fexis tynx, Linn. 
A fine skin obtained in Constantinople, and stated to be from 
Asia Minor, is nearly uniform light rufous above, with obscure 
spots on the flanks, and markings on the limbs hardly darker than 
the colour of the back ; the terminal third of the tail is black. It 
agrees well with Blyth’s F. tsabellina*® from Tibet; but we do 
not think that the form is more than a variety of I’. /ynx, which has 
1 Sorex russulus (Zimm.), not 8. araneus, Linn. 
? Compt. Rend. Ac. Paris, xlii. p. 1035. Figured by Tchihatcheff, As. Min., 
Zool. pl. i. 
3 Journ, As, Soc, Beng. xvi. pt. il, p. 1178. 
4 
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