164 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
number of caudal vertebrz in the tiger and lion should be twenty-six. 
I now regret that I did not carefully examine the osteology of all short- 
~ tailed tigers which I have come across, to see whether they had the full 
complement of vertebre. The big tiger in the museum is short by the 
six terminal joints-=three inches. This may have occurred during life, 
as in the case of the above-quoted panther ; anyhow the tail should, I 
think, be thrown out of the calculation. Now as to the measurement 
of the head and body, I quite acknowledge that there must be a different 
standard for the sportsman 
and for the scientific natura- 
list. For the latter the only 
reliable data are derived 
from the bones. Bones can- 
not err. Except in very 
few abnormal conditions the 
whole skeleton is in accurate 
proportion, and it has lately 
struck me that from a cer- 
tain measurement of the 
skull a true estimate might 
be formed of the length of 
the skeleton, and approxi- 
mately the size of the animal 
over the muscles. I at first 
thought of taking the length 
of the skull by a craniometer, 
and seeing what portion of 
the total length to the pos- 
terior edge of the sacrum 
it would be, but I soon 
discarded -the idea on 
account of the variation in 
2 the supra-occipital process. 
Tiger’s skull (under part). I then took the palatal 
measurement, from the outer 
edge of the border in which the incisors are set to the anterior inside 
edge of the brain-hole, or foramen magnum, and I find that this standard 
is sufficiently accurate, and is 5*50 of the length taken from the tip 
of the premaxillaries to the end of the sacrum. Therefore the length 
of this portion of any tiger’s skull multiplied by 5°50 will give the 
measurement of the head and body of the skeleton. 
For the purpose of working out these figures I applied to all my sport- 
ing friends for measurements of their largest skulls, with a view to settling 
the question about tigers exceeding eleven feet. The museum possesses. 
