gy ('Osteographie').

From all that has been written of the African and Indian lions I
should say that the tiger was the more formidable of the two, as he
is, I believe, superior in size. About twenty-two years ago my
attention was drawn to this subject by the perusal of Mr. Blyth's
article on the _Felidae_ in the old _India Sporting Review_ of
1856-57. If I am not mistaken there was at that time (1861) a fine
skeleton of a lion in the museum, as well as those of several tigers,
which I measured. I had afterwards opportunities of observing and
comparing skeletons of the two animals in various museums in Europe,
though not in my own country, for my stay in England on each occasion
of furlough was brief, and in almost every instance I found the tiger
the larger of the two. The book in which I recorded my observations,
and which also contained a number of microscopic drawings of marine
infusoria, collected during a five months' voyage, was afterwards
lost, so I cannot now refer to my notes.

I believe there was once a case of a fair fight between a well-matched
lion and tiger in a menagerie (Edmonds's, I think). The two, by the
breaking of a partition, got together, and could not be separated.
The duel resulted in the victory of the tiger, who killed his
opponent.

The lion seems to be dying out in India, and it is now probably
confined only to Guzerat and Cutch. I have not been an attentive
reader of sporting magazines of late years, and therefore I cannot
call to mind any recent accounts of lion-killing in India, if any
such have been recorded. At the commencement of this century lions
were to be found in the North-West and in Central India, including
the tract of country now termed the Central Provinces. In 1847 or
1848 a lioness was killed by a native shikari in the Dumoh district.
Dr. Spry, in his 'Modern India,' states that, when at Saugor in the
Central Provinces in 1837, the skin of a full-grown male lion was
brought to him, which had been shot by natives in the neighbourhood.
He also mentions another lioness shot at Rhylee in the Dumoh district
in 1834, of which he saw the skin. Jerdon says that tolerably
authentic intelligence was received of the presence of lions near
Saugor in 1856; and whilst at Seonee, within the years 1857 to 1864,
I frequently heard the native shikaris speak of having seen a tiger
_without stripes_, which may have been of the present species. The
indistinct spots on the lion's skin (esp