892 



MR. R. I. POCOCK ON 



[Dec. 15, 



Bilder etc. p. 157), but may be at once distinguished by the 

 indistinctness and small extent of the white areas of the head and 

 body, by the absence of the fringe of hair on the belly, and the 

 shorter hair of the cheeks and throat. The Persian race has 

 been named F. tigris virgata by Matschie, in allusion to the 

 completeness of the pattern of stripes. 



Of Indian Tigers the Society possesses at the present time three 

 examples : one large male from Mysore, pi-esented by A. Foi-bes, 

 Esq., C.S.I., and two females from i^epal, presented by H.R.H. the 

 Prince of Wales. The latter are remarkable for the reduction 

 both in number and length of their stripes, of which scarcely any 



Text-fig. 175. 



Nep.alese Tiger (from a .specimen no.v living in the Society's Gardens). 



^how a sign of looping. The greater part of the shoulder, the 

 outside of the fore leg, and a large poi-tion of the costal area of the 

 thorax are without stripes ; while on the inner side of the fore leg 

 the only stripe that persists is the brachial stripe, a constant 

 feature in many species of Fells. On the hinder part of the body 

 and on the hind-quarters the stripes show a strong tendency to 

 abbreviation, in addition to being comparatively thin and widely 

 separated. From their general appearance I am convinced that 

 these two specimens came from the same litter, a conclusion which 

 lessens the systematic value one might be inclined to attach to 



