268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.86 



FELIS CONCOLOR COUGUAR Kerr: Cougar, Panther, or Eastern Mountain 



Lion 



An entry in the journal of Lt. Henry Tiniberlake (Williams, 1927, 

 p. 71) under date of January 2, 1762, indicates that panthers were 

 numerous at that date in the vicinity of Tellico River, Monroe Coun- 

 ty. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, however, reported in 1888 (p. 459) that 

 the panther was unknown in the Great Smoky Mountains region of 

 Tennessee and North Carolina. Perrygo was told that a panther 

 had been killed in 1929 in the Holston Mountains near Shady Valley, 

 Johnson County. Another panther was seen crossing the trail on 

 Hoan Mountain on September 18, 1937. 



Ramsey (1853, p. 206) states that panthers were present in 1780 

 in the vicinity of the Bluff [Nashville]. While staying at the home 

 of a Mr. Shaw on the Caney Fork road [? Smith County], Abraham 

 Steiner and Christian Frederic de Schweinitz wrote on December 12, 

 1799, that panthers were present in that vicinity. A panther was 

 seen on May 30, 1937, by local residents on North Fork River near 

 Crossville, Cumberland County. 



Williams (1930, p. 96) writes that panthers were present in western 

 Tennessee in 1819. Some years later Benjamin Porter, Jr., is re- 

 ported to have killed on one day four full-grown panthei-s, which av- 

 eraged 91/2 feet in length, in Lauderdale County (Williams, 1930, p. 

 161). Hallock (1877, p. 153) stated that the canebrakes of Shelby 

 County afforded fine grounds for hunting panthers. It is also reported 

 that a panther measuring 7i/^ feet from ti]) to tip was killed by Robert 

 H. Weaver on Wheatley's plantation, 8 miles south of Memphis 

 (Anon., 1880, p. 11). Benjamin C. Miles reported to Rhoads (1896, 

 p. 201) that a few panthers were said to occur in the most impassable 

 brakes and "harricanes" of the bottoms of Lauderdale County. 



LYNX RUFUS RUFUS (Schreber): Bobcat, or Wild Cat 



The first mention of wild cats occurring in the State of Tennessee 

 appears to be that recorded by Abraham Steiner and Christian 

 Frederic de Schweinitz. On December 12, 1799, they recorded in 

 their journal (Williams, 1928, p. 519) that wild cats occur near the 

 Caney Fork road [Smith or Putnam County]. Williams (1930, pp. 

 96, 180) records the occurrence in 1819 of wild cats and catamounts 

 in western Tennessee. 



Perrygo was informed by local residents that wild cats are occa- 

 sionally trapped in cypress swamps in Fayette and Shelby Counties. 

 In the vicinity of Waynesboro, Wayne County, it was reported that 

 there were still a few wild cats on the ridges and that a female had 

 been killed there during March 1937. Local residents in the vicinity of 



