188 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



the porcupine had walked round its adversary and filled him with quills 

 both before and behind was most interesting, and it probably went off quite 

 convinced that it had killed the panther single-handed ! 



It would be interesting to know if this incident can be paralleled. 



The paother was a full-grown male, 7 feet in length. Of the two photos 

 enclosed, that giving the back view was taken just as the panther lay when 

 found, the other was taken after the panther had been moved. 



H. H. F. M. TyLER, i.c.s. 

 Adyak Gate, 

 Madras, 27th May 1915. 



No. III.— HAIR BALL FROM THE STOMACH OF A NILGAI. 



Through the kindness of Mr. D. 0. Witt the Society has received a large 

 hair ball taken from the stomach of a "nilgai". This ball, which was one of 

 several, is 20 ins. circumference, and weighs 2| lbs. It is practically a perfect 

 globe and in colour is brownish, very similar to a kind of linoleum having 

 also the sinooth surface. It has been thought worth while to reproduce the 

 following note from the " Indian Forester " which gives the history of this 

 hair ball. 



N. B. KINNEAR. 



Bombay Natural History Society Museum, 

 July 1915. 



Death of a Nilgai fROM Eating Haik. 



" On the 20th March 1909, a tame blue-bull or " nilgai " (Porta.r pictus) died 

 at the age of three years. On being cut up, eighty dusty -brown coloured balls 

 were found in its stomach. These balls were brought to me as a curiosity. 

 They were like cannon-balls in appearance and were so hard and stiff that 

 they could not be broken or even flattened with a hammer. 1 then had one 

 of them sawn in two, and found that it was composed of a compact mass of 

 hair, probably human hair, surrounded by a leathery outer covering. It is 

 surprising where the animal could have found so much hair, and the only 

 explanation seems to be that, as it used to roam freely wherever it liked in 

 the village, it used to lick up the human hair thrown away by barbers. In 

 fact, some of the villagers afterwards stated that they had seen the animal 

 doing this. 



Four of these balls were from 19 to 21 inches in circumference, and 

 weighed from 2 to 2^ lbs., while the remaining four were 13 to 15 inches in 

 circumference, and weighed over half-a-pound. The shikaris around here 

 say that they have never heard of any such instance before. It would 

 appear that death was caused by this great accumulation of hair which the 

 animal was unable to digest, but the wonder is that it lived long enough to 

 accumulate such a maes. " 



RAGHUBIR SARAN MITAL, 



Range Oflicer. 



Deori, C. p., 

 Uth May 1909. 



