140 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RI8T. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



expeditions 19 different kinds of game were obtained, examples of nine of 

 which were kindly mounted and presented to the Society's Museum by the 

 author. 



In the first thirteen chapters details are given of the dift'erent expedi- 

 tions with descriptions of hunts after various kinds of game as well as 

 general remarks on the various animals seen and shot, while the four 

 remaining chapters are devoted to general notes and discussions, protective 

 colouration of animals and rifles for big game. 



The Somali leopard seems, if possible, to be a more wily animal to shoot 

 than its Indian cousin. The usual way appears to be to sit in a zariba with 

 a bait tied up outside, very different work, our author tells us, to sitting 

 over a goat in a machan in this country. From his experience Oapt. Mosse 

 considers the lion the most dangerous game animal and in this he is sup- 

 ported by Mr. Selous ; Colonel Swayne, however, puts the buffalo first and 

 the lion together with the tiger, second. Other sportsmen have not such a 

 high opinion of the lion and Mr. Maughan in " Wild Game in Zambezia ' 

 seems even to consider lion shooting poor sport. 



In Chapter XV, Capt. Mosse joins issue with Mr. Selous on protective 

 colouration in animals. The principal point of discussion is the striping of 

 zebras which Mr. Selous says is not protective because the lion, which 

 principally preys on them, hunts by scent aaad also hunts by night. To 

 this Capt. Mosse answers that as regards hunting by scent " it is by no 

 means certain as regards the cat tribe " and he goes on to say "the tiger 

 and panther hunt mainly by sight and hearing." This, however, we venture 

 to think does not prove that the lion may not hunt more by scent than 

 the tiger, but on the other hand as Capt. Mosse says, Mr. Selous has 

 produced no evidence to show that the lion does hunt by scent. 



In the nocturnal habits of the Carnivora Mr. Selous considers another 

 stumbling block to the protective colouration theory of the zebra, and here 

 again Capt. Mosse points out that he "fails to take into consideration the 

 great length of time during which evolution has been going on and that he 

 assumes without sufficient justification, that the protective colouration of 

 the zebra was brought into being by conditions precisely similar to those 

 obtaining at the present day." 



Capt. Mosse argues that the habits of both animals have changed and 

 that at one time both were inhabitants of wooded country and that the lion 

 hunted by day. " When this was his habitual practice it must have been an 

 advantage to his prey to be unconspicuous. It is not difficult to imagine 

 the process of evolution that took place; the zebra and the lion to begin with, 

 both becoming less easy to see. It is not easy to be sure of the order in 

 which changes occurred, but we may perhaps assume that to counteract the 

 difficulty of seeing their enemy with his increasing stealthiness the zebra 

 took to the plains, " while " as time went on the lion, finding it more and 

 more difficult to capture his prey, would often find that it was only in the 

 dusk, after going hungry all day, that he achieved success." 



"■ A crepuscular habit once acquired and accompanied by a gradually 

 increasing power of vision in a dim light would develop almost inevitably 

 into a nocturnal one. The antelope or zebra meanwhile would develop still 

 more its powers of scent and perhaps hearing, and, in the case of the latter, 

 become more and more wholly a denizen of the plains." Now it is admitted 

 by nearly all hunters that the zebra is harder to see at dusk, would it 

 therefore be as easy for the lion to see it by night as by day ? If not, why 

 should it have taken to hunting by night ? It may be said that the reason 

 is that its prey would then be resting and be easier to approach, but on the 

 other hand "C.H. S." in a recent number of the Field after writing about 

 the animals the lion feeds on, says " none of the animals mentioned above 



