214 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Company. His method approached more nearly that of Mr. Booth, and 

 specimens of his skill, though much deteriorated by time, are still to be 

 seen in the Museum at Stuttgart. — A. Gunther (British Museum, 

 Natural History). 



MAMMALIA. 



The Wild Cat in Inverness-shire. — In 'The Zoologist' for April 

 and May are some interesting notes on the Wild Cat in Austria, and its 

 extinction in Yorkshire in 1840. It may be of interest to some of your 

 readers to know that this animal, although now very rare in the Northern 

 Highlands of Scotland, is still met with in some of the forests. On the 

 28th November, 1889, I received, in the flesh, a magnificent male, which 

 had been caught two days previously in the deer-forest of Invermoriston, 

 in Inverness-shire. This animal, which was in its thick winter coat, 

 measured 3 ft. 4 in. from nose to extremity of tail ; 1 ft. 2 in. high at the 

 shoulders ; and weighed over 12 fbs. The head was broad and rounded, 

 and the ears set wide apart. The canine teeth were fully half-an-inch in 

 length. The bright greenish-yellow eyes, when I first received it, gave a 

 very fierce expression. The ground-colour of the fur on the body, flanks, 

 and sides is a rich tawny-grey, marked with dark brownish transverse 

 stripes. The face, ears, and feet are tawny-yellow ; two dark streaks run 

 from the corners of the eyes on to the cheeks, and five or six dark lines 

 commencing above the eyes are continued to the shoulders, forming a chain 

 of broken streaks to the tail. The legs down to the knees are banded with 

 four dark rings, and the heels of the hind feet are black. Its tawny-grey 

 chest is crossed with two obscure transverse bands, and its chin yellowish- 

 white. The tail, which was comparatively short, was full and annulated 

 with three black rings, and two or three inches of the tip is black. On 

 December 5th, also in 1889, a female Wild Cat was sent me from the same 

 deer-forest. On dissecting these two specimens, I found they had only 

 eighteen caudal vertebras, while I believe there are about twenty-four in 

 Felis domestica and its supposed ancestor, Felis maniculata. On the 11th 

 of March of the present year I received yet another male example of this 

 species, taken in Glen Moriston. This fine old torn measured 3 ft. 3 in. 

 in length, and was very stoutly built. The ground-colour of this animal's 

 fur was a much deeper tawny than the fur of the other two specimens, 

 whilst the thick tigrine-like tufts of air on the cheeks formed a slight 

 mane, such as is sometimes seen on the cheeks of an old male Tiger. 

 On April 4th another specimen, a female, arrived from the same forest. 

 Doubtless these four examples belonged to one family. The two females, 

 like other members of the Fclidce, are less than the males, although both 

 are large and powerful animals, being slightly over 3 ft. in extreme length 

 A friend in Sutherland, who is well conversant with the Jeraz natural of 

 the Highlands, writes me he believes the Wild Cutis now nearly, if not 





