354 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



are easily procurable, it lessens our confidence in the accuracy of 

 those of which we know little, and which may or may not be as 

 faultily delineated. 



In the order Carnivora we are sorry to find that the account 

 of the Lion and Tiger alone occupy some forty pages of text. 

 Half of this space at least might have been saved for the con- 

 sideration of less-known species. Few wild animals are now 

 better known than the Lion and Tiger ; every book on travel and 

 sport in Africa and India teems with information of some sort 

 about them ; every trait in their character, every peculiarity of 

 habit must surely by this time have been described over and over 

 again. 



We should have been content with brief descriptions of species, 

 accurate tables of measurement or weight, outline of geographical 

 distribution, and references to reliable sources of information for 

 further details on special points. 



There is perhaps no point on which there has been so much 

 exaggeration and misrepresentation as the measurement of Tigers. 

 The greatest lengths recorded in the Badminton volume on Big- 

 game Shooting (section India) have been recently severely criticised 

 by a sportsman who, having shot no less than 83 Tigers in the 

 course of his experience, is well qualified to express an opinion 

 on the subject. His remarks, which appeared in ' The Field' of 

 17th August last, should be read in extenso by those who are 

 interested in this subject. From the reliable statistics given by 

 him it is clear that Mr. Lydekker must be in error when he states 

 (p. 375) that " unusually fine specimens will reach, or even 

 slightly exceed, a length of 12 feet; 12 feet 2 inches being 

 apparently the maximum dimensions ascertained with any 

 approach to accuracy." These dimensions evidently must have 

 been ascertained from the skin and not from the dead animal. 

 Those who have had experience in flaying wild animals are well 

 aware that a dressed skin will easily stretch so as to measure a 

 foot or two more than it did before removal. 



On the subject of the European Wild Cat and its allies 

 Mr. Lydekker has some interesting remarks, but in speculating 

 on the ancestry of the Domestic Cat in different countries he has 

 evidently omitted to consult De Blainville on the osteology of 

 the mummied cats from Egyptian tombs, and an essay by the 

 present writer on " The Origin of the Domestic Cat," which 



