a 
Dssay 
a tt. 
ON PEDIGREE STOCK RECORDS. 429 
It thus appears that in 52 per cent., or in one-half of the cases, the 
differences, when reckoned to the nearest } inch, do not exceed 4 inch, 
and that in 74 per cent., or in three-quarters of the cases, the differences 
do not exceed inch. In the remaining quarter of the cases the difter- 
ences ranged upwards to a solitary instance of 2} inches. This summary 
does not, however, include one case where the veterinaries who entered 
their measures in ‘hands’ of 4 inches each, with the extra inches and 
fractions, obviously wrote down the wrong number of hands, 14 for 
15. The entry assigned to the animal indicated an exceptionally hollow 
back, which the photograph showed not to be the case. So the erroneous 
entry of ‘hands’ was corrected, and then observation and calculation 
agreed. Considering the difficulty of measuring a restive, and often 
vicious, thoroughbred horse, whom it is somewhat dangerous to tickle 
with measuring apparatus, also that each animal was only measured once, 
while the photographs were measured at least twice, and again that one 
blunder of entry was detected as above, it seems reasonable to ascribe the 
larger differences of from | inch to 2} inches mainly to faults connected 
with measurement of the animals, and not to those connected with the 
photographs. An error in the latter of one millimetre, which corresponds 
to about 1} inch of actual height, is barely credible. This conclusion is 
confirmed by the more equable run of the statistical curve of photographic 
measures. It is further confirmed by some experiments made two years 
ago on behalf of the Chairman of the present Committee, on the degree of 
consistency between the measurements made (1) by the same veterinary 
student of the same horses on different occasions, and (2) between the 
means of the results of the several students. A discussion of these results 
showed that the probable error of a single measurement was considerable, 
and therefore that large errors might occasionally occur. Direct measures 
of the length of the body of a horse are considered by experts to be very 
untrustworthy, but the photographic method gives them with precision 
and simplicity. Owing to the roundness of the chest and buttocks, no 
correction seems necessary for the foreshortening of an animal that stands 
slightly askew. 
Not a few inquiries and experiments have been made in relation to 
purely bred shorthorn cattle. Thirty-one triads, each consisting of one 
adult subject, its sire, and its dam—the ‘ subjects’ being the offspring of 
7 bulls and 26 cows—have been photographed for the Committee 
by Mr. John Patten, jun., under guasz standard conditions. The cattle 
were, for the most part, of the herd of the Duke of Northumberland, at 
Alnwick Park. The larger portion of the photographs were received too 
late to be properly dealt with in this Report. They seem to afford very 
valuable material for study. 
Index Animalium.—Report of a Committee, consisting of Dr. H. Woop- 
WARD (Chairman), Mr. P. L. Scuarer, Rev. T. R. R. Sressine, 
Mr. R. McLacaian, Mr. W. E. Hovis, and Mr. F. A. Baroer 
(Secretary), appointed, to. superintend the Compilation of an Index 
Animalium. 
THE examination of the literature published from 1758 to 1800 inclusive 
has been continued by Mr. C. Davies Sherborn, to whom facilities have, 
as heretofore, been granted by the authorities at the British Museum 
