confinement, would have to add about a fourth to the weight, at least. With regard to there being more than one species of tiger in India, I think there can be no doubt that the tigers which inhabit the Terrai and jungles along the foot of the Himalayas are very much larger than those met with in the hills and jungles of Central India. The latter are frequently called “hill tigers,” to distinguish them from their larger brethren of the Terrai.— SlNGROWEEE. I have ascertained the weight of bullocks by the following rule: Measure found the animal close behind the shoulder, then along the back, from the fore part of the shoulder-blade to the bone at the tail. Multiply the square of the girth by five times the length, both expressed in feet. Divide the result by twenty-one, and you have the weight of the four quarters in stones of 14 lb. In very fat cattle the weight is about a twentieth more than that ascertained in this manner; while very lean cattle weigh about a twentieth less. The quarters are little more than half the weight of the animal. The skin weighs about one-eighteenth, and the tallow one-twelfth of the beast. You could ascertain the weight of Col. Ramsay’s tiger by this rule. You have not given the length required, or I would have sent an approximate weight.—R. Greenwood. (Kilkhampton, Stratton, Cornwall.) [A gentleman who has examined the tiger, guesses his weight to have been 44 stone, or 616 lb. at 14 lb. to the stone.—Prank Buckland.]

In regard to the size, I do not think there is anything to denote a distinction, though the size of the Bengal tiger has generally been considered to be greater than that found in Upper India, and more especi lly in the hilly tracts of Central India but Col. Ramsay’s specimen is a proof that in all parts they do attain a very great size occasionally. The colour of the skin as a rule indicates the age; a very old tiger becomes quite pale, and a young full-grown one is always of a deep colour. India, you must recollect, is a wide region.—C. B. “ The Field ” Sir,—Seeing a question by Mr. Buckland in about the weight of tigers, perhaps the following information may be of some service:—I weighed two tigers at the Quarter-

;

master’s store, 8th (the King’s) Kegiment, at Camp Deesa, G-uzerat. One on March 21, 1852, 329 lb.; the other on February 11, 1853, 452 1b. The latter the largest tiger I saw in p.m.,India.—A. S. Gr.—P.S. Both tigers were killed about three and weighed about six a.m. next morning.

"We find tigers in this country up to tbe foot of the Himalaya Mountains, and south as far as Ceylon. Their weight, of course, varies with their size. There is a very large one at a place called Sukkar, on the Indus, and which one I saw on my way down here a fortnight ago. The natives in charge of him say he weighs 425 lb., is 10 ft. 3J in. long, and 37£ in. high at shoulder. He is of a very deep or dark yellow, and a “ most perfect head,” although the “W” mentioned in your paper was not distinct. The white parts were milk-white, and the jet-black spots on the dark-yellow grounding had a most handsome effect. His whiskers had not been cut, which perhaps accounts for his being taken by that great tiger shikarie, Major Marston. This animal, I may as well mention, is held sacred by the natives, and a fakeer, a native priest, is the head man who looks after him. He is kept in a large enclosure, and appears quite docile, as we (myself and party) patted him and caressed him. He is nine years of age. I am in hopes of bringing home a young one, together with my three leopards, the marks of which I consider far handsomer than the large stripes of the tiger. You can never judge the correct dimensions of these or any other animals after they are skinned, as they can be, of course, made to stretch so much. They should be measured when the animal is alive and it is seldom that you are able in England to get or see them so tame as to permit you to put them in the different positions for measurement, and when it is the only time you can get anything like a correct measure. My large leopard, who is just one year old, is G ft. 6£ in. long, 21 in. high at shoulder, foot 8 in. circumference (when extended much more), 26 J in. round body under arm, 20 in. round head over the ears, £ in. claws, 14 in. elbow to toe; is beautifully marked, and fetches and carries stones or sticks out of wator. They are quite different from cats in that respect, being very fond of the water. I have

had seven since I have been in this country, and at all ages, and find that, however tame they may be made, they never can be relied on. My two other little ones are unfortunately both females, and I am afraid there will not be enough food for the three on board ship, so will have to leave the large one (a male) behind. You can teach them to catch deer at any age, although it is of course better when they are young, and also easier.—A. C. Keys Locke, Capt. 51st Light Infantry (Kurrachee, Scinde, April 4).

The longest animal I remember to have seen during my residence in India was a male royal Bengal tiger, shot by the late gallant Major-General Sir W. R. Gilbert (the hero of the Punjaub in after years). It was in the year 1825, when that officer was residing at Balasore. This tiger was a confirmed “ man-eater,” and was killed off an elephant in the heavy jungles of the Hudderpuddah, in the zillah of Midnapore. He measured 12 ft. 2J in. in length. A tiger was brought into the presence of Mr. Campbell, an indigo-planter, at Jellasore, in the same zillah, which had been killed by two “ shikaries ” (native hunters) with matchlocks whilst in the act of slaking his thirst from a nullah in the great Mohur-bunge (peacock forest); his length was 12 ft. 2 in.—D. G.

No. 2. What are the extreme limits of the geographical range of the tiger? -——I havejustreadMr. Buckland’s article in the “ Field” on the geographical range of tigers. In General Ferrier’s “ Caravan Journeys,” page 138, he mentions that the tiger is sometimes seen in the country near Karig a village on the boundary of Persia and Herat. In Capt. Langley’s book, “ Residence at the Court of Meer Ali Moorad,” he mentioned the fact of Meer Ali having killed tigers near his capital town (of which I have forgotten the name) in Scinde. This looks as if the tiger was not confined to India alone.—R. A., Akolah, West Berar.

I send you a tracing of the zoological chart of the world, published in “Black’s Atlas” of 1857, from which it appears that the limit of the so-called Bengal tiger is from about

xd° south to 47° north lat., and from 44° to 136° east long.

H. R. H.

I do not think that tigers are found farther west than the north-west boundary of our Indian possessions, or farther ea&t than the western boundary of China. You sometimes read of tigers being killed in Africa and South America, but they are a large species of panther, with spots or circular marks, not striped like the tiger of Bengal. Singrowlee.

See also three articles on tigers by E. Blyth, Esq., “ Land and Water,” vol. i. pp. 231-255, 322.

When talking “ tiger” matters over at a dinner-table, my friend, A. H. Layard, Esq., M.P., informed me that there was a range of hills running northwards from the Gulf of Cambray towards Delhi, and that this seemed to be the westernmost limit of the tiger; though it is reported that tigers have been seen in the province of Mazanderan, to the south of the Caspian Sea; the country there is very thickly wooded. They are not found at Teheran, the capital of Persia.* As regards there being a second species of tiger, we have pretty good evidence that there really exists another variety, which has not smooth hair, but has a rough hairy coat. This creature is to be found, and it is hoped skins will eventually be brought (even if a skin exhibited some years since at the Zoological Society be not that of the very animal in question). This hairy tiger is said

By the map, I find that the province of Mazanderan is about one thousand miles, as the crow flies, from the western extremity of the Punjaub.

to be found at and about the north-eastern extremity of the great Chinese wall, and also in the Corea the peninsula between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan—a country about which as yet we know positively nothing whatever. This hairy tiger is said by my late (alas!) friend, Dr. Falconer, to be nearly related to, if not the same as, the extinct fossil tiger, Felis spelcea * I trust we shall, get a specimen of this most interesting animal some of these days.

On this point my friend, N. L. Austen, Esq., in a valuable article on “ The Varieties of Tiger and Leopard” in “Land and Water,” writes of tigers and leopards:

The tigers of the Altai mountains and Oriental Siberia appear to be much longer furred than those inhabiting the warmer portions of Asia. Even if not a separate variety, they present considerable distinctions, a friend having recently informed me that he had seen one of these skins, coming, I believe, from the Trans-Baikal region. He describes the fur as resembling that of an Angora cat in length. The colour was peculiarly light and the stripes indistinct, but I should attribute this to the effect of age. Would it not be probable that this long-haired tiger might have a near affinity to the formidable felines whose fossil remains are found in the European bone caves, and which, doubtless, at one time inhabited this island? Atkinson, in his interesting “Travels in Siberia” and in the Upper and Lower Amoor, frequently mentions this species, and states that he has seen several long-haired individuals in the museum of Barnaoul, which were shot in the immediate vicinity. One of these tigers

The teeth of the Felis spelcea, which Dr. Buckland determines among the fossils of the Kirkdale cave, exceeded in size those of the largest lion or Bengal tiger, but not in the same degree as the bones in the feet.

was, lie states, an unusually fine and powerful specimen, two or three men being destroyed by the ferocious beast before it was killed. This variety of tiger seems to endure cold with perfect impunity, the thick and warm coating of fur securing it from the effects of the intensely severe Siberian winter. The Indian tigers in the Zoological Gardens assume a denser covering of fur about the end of autumn when the close and short summer coat is shed. It will be an interesting thing to ascertain whether the fur becomes longer or thicker at all during the rainy season in India, for though the tiger has not the same dislike to water so strongly implanted in the nature bf the domestic cat, yet the sudden transition from the ordinary drought and aridity to the damp and steamy atmosphere of the jungles during the monsoon, may have some effect on the system. A second large species of Felis (F. irbis) described as being clothed with long whitish fur, having the spots very faintly defined, has been found north of the Mouztagh or Celestial mountains, which are in latitude 42 degrees. It may perhaps, be identical with the snow leopard inhabiting the higher ranges of the Himalayas, which preys principally upon the ruminants that inhabit that lofty region.

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