  A recent derivation [P.H. Mott and C.M. Roland, Phys. Rev. B 80, 132104
(2009).] of the bounds on Poisson's ratio, v, for linearly elastic materials
showed that the conventional lower limit, -1, is wrong, and that v cannot be
less than 0.2 for classical elasticity to be valid. This is a significant
result, since it is precisely for materials having small values of v that
direct measurements are not feasible, so that v must be calculated from other
elastic constants. Herein we measure directly Poisson's ratio for four
materials, two for which the more restrictive bounds on v apply, and two having
values below this limit of 0.2. We find that while the measured v for the
former are equivalent to values calculated from the shear and tensile moduli,
for two auxetic materials (v < 0), the equations of classical elasticity give
inaccurate values of v. This is experimental corroboration that the correct
lower limit on Poisson's ratio is 0.2 in order for classical elasticity to
apply.
