380 MR. w. A. FORBES ON THE [May 4, 



2. On a supposed Instance of Hybridization between a Cat 

 and Lynx. By W. J. Hoffman, M.D. 



[Received April 7, 1880.] 



The following statement was made to me a short time since by a 

 medical gentleman, late of the U. S, Army, as having occurred 

 during his residence at Camp Apache, Arizona Territory, about six 

 years ago. The doctor had received orders to report at that isolated 

 station, and took a pet Cat with him, partly on account of his ad- 

 miration for the animal, also for the purpose of ridding the quarters 

 of annoying rodents. 



Upon the arrival of spring the Cat began to show symptoms of 

 restlessness, with occasional fits of irritabihty, which would at times 

 be replaced by evidences of more than ordinary affection and play- 

 fulness. Suspecting that the chief cause of tliese demonstrations was 

 sexual excitement, and knowing that there was no other cat within 

 eighty or a hundred miles of the station — the intervening country 

 being badly broken and very desolate, the result was watched with 

 interest. 



One day the Cat disappeared and remained away for over a week, 

 when she as mysteriously made her reappearance with an apparent 

 sense of contentment and a desire to remain about the building. In 

 due time she gave birth to four kittens, three of which resembled the 

 mother, but the fourth had a tail of but half the normal length, and 

 was also of a greyish tawny colour, in time also growing much larger 

 than the rest. As it grew up it became very tame, following its 

 master around the buildings like a dog, showing various charac- 

 teristic traits of the Lynx, such as the gait, quickness of motion, 

 climbing trees, etc. 



As a Lynx {Felts rufa) is exceedingly common in the dense woods 

 surrounding the Post, it is but reasonable to attribute the paternity 

 of the kittens to the above-named species, especially so when we 

 consider the general resemblances above stated. 



Wasliington, March 25, 1880. 



3. Contributions to the Anatomy of Passerine Birds. — Part 

 II. On the Syrinx and other Points in the Anatomy of the 

 Eurylcemidrp\ By W. A. Forbes, B.A., F.L.S., P.G.S., 

 Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Prosector to 

 the Society. 



[Received April 5, 1880.] 



The true position of the Broadbills or Euri/IceiniJcs in the series 

 of birds, and particularly the question as to their passerine or non- 

 passerine affinities, has long been in question amongst systematic 



^ Part i. supra, p. 143. 



