892 DR. F. D. WELCH OX SUMATRAN AND JAVAN TIGERS. [DeC. 14, 



2. A Comparative Examination of three living Specimens o£ 

 Felis tigris sondaica, with Notes on an old Javan Male. 

 Bj Dr. F. D. Welch, F.Z.S. 



[Receivecl October 16, 1909.] 



In the Society's Gardens at Regent's Park is a young male 

 Sumatraii Tiger, about which Mr. Pocock made some remarks in 

 December, 1908 (P. Z. S. 1908, p. 890). 



Since then I have seen two other living specimens of Felis tigris 

 sondaica, one younger and one older than the Society's male, and 

 as my old male shows pecidiarities about the neck and ears which 

 I have never seen in any other race of Tiger living or dead, in- 

 cluding living examples of both Persian and Manchurian races, 

 a few i-emarks on the thi-ee animals, which were at very different 

 ages, may be interesting, especially as I can find no skins of Felis 

 tigris sondaica in the Natural History Museum, and as Mr. Pocock 

 informs me he has had no opportunity of seeing other Tigers of 

 this race, except the one he described. 



Elliot in his ' Monograph of the Felidje ' makes statements 

 about the distribution of wdiite on the face which do not agree 

 with the three specimens 1 have seen, whilst all information I 

 can find about this race, with the exception of Mr. Pocock 's 

 remarks, is extremely scanty and vague. 



My specimens are an old male from Java which lived in 

 Antwerp for eight years and was estimated to be four years old on 

 arrival, and a female from Sumatra abovit a year and a half old. 



Writing last December Mr. Pocock stated that the Society's male 

 had " shorter hair on the cheeks and throat " than a Persian Tiger, 

 but since then this animal has developed large cheek-tufts and a 

 well mailved beard, the cheek-tufts having white on their lower 

 and anterior surfaces and the beard being almost all white. In 

 my old Javan male these cheek-tufts and beard were very la,rge 

 and well developed, and also in the yoinig Sumatran female they 

 were well marked, which shows that Felis tigris sondaica grows 

 these at an early age in life. 



When Mr. Pocock wrote, the Society's male had not the cheek 

 hairs and beard so well developed as now, as it was then in poorer 

 condition, but from its condition now and from the cheek-tufts 

 and beards of my two specimens, I should certainlj^ say that Felis 

 tigris sondaica was better developed in these points than the 

 Persian race. 



My old Javan male had long and large tufts of hair growing 

 from the internal surfaces of the external ear, and projecting at 

 least three inches beyond the skin of the edge of the ear, and on 

 front view these tufts gave the animal an appearance somewhat 

 similar to that of an Eared Owl. 



These tufts are much larger and quite unlike anything I have 

 seen in either the Manchurian or the Persian race. 



Also the hair down the back and sides of the neck was very 



