  The values obtained experimentally for the conductivity critical exponent in
numerous percolation systems, in which the interparticle conduction is by
tunnelling, were found to be in the range of $t_0$ and about $t_0+10$, where
$t_0$ is the universal conductivity exponent. These latter values are however
considerably smaller than those predicted by the available ``one
dimensional"-like theory of tunneling-percolation. In this letter we show that
this long-standing discrepancy can be resolved by considering the more
realistic "three dimensional" model and the limited proximity to the
percolation threshold in all the many available experimental studies
