18 



THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 



rolled in the snow on the breast of a splash dam on 

 Big Run, Centre County, in February, 1873, when he 

 was alone and unarmed at a nearby camp. The great 

 feline seemed to be aware of the Nimrod's nnprc- 

 parcdness, lingering about the premises for upwards 

 of an hour. A Florida panther killed near Miami 

 in the winter of 1914, measures, length of head and 

 body 56 inches, length of tail 28 inches. The hide was 

 sent to the writer by the naturalist Rhoads. It rep- 

 resents the extreme peninsular dark phase, being a 

 rich chocolate brown in color. The head is small, as 

 is the head of the West Virginia panther, previously 

 alluded to ; the coat of the West V^irginia specimen' 

 is a paler brown, lacking much of the richness of the 

 Florida hide. A dark dorsal line from shoulders to 

 tip of tail is very noticeable on the Florida specimen, 

 but like the West Virginia hide it has the tuft at end 

 of tail. A mounted Florida panther in the Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, is a sooty, or slate 

 grey in color, very different from the hide procured 

 by Mr. Rhoads. 



