28o Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XI. 



Felis couguar Kerr. 

 Eastern Cougar. Panther. 



Local names — Panther, Cougar, Mountain Lion, Painter. 



Felis couguar Kerr, Anim. Kingd., 1792, p. 151. Merriam, Proc. Wash. Acad. 

 Sci., 1901, p. 582. Hahn, Ann. Rept. Dept, Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 

 (1909), p. 540 (Indiana). 



Felis concolor Lapham, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, II, 1852 (1853), p. 339 (Wis- 

 consin). Kennicott, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 578 

 (Cook Co., Illinois). Thomas, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, IV, 1859-60 (1861), 

 p. 653 (Illinois). Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1869 (1871), p. 181 

 (Iowa). Hoy, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Arts & Letters, V, 1882, p. 256 (Wiscon- 

 sin). Strong, Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I» 1883, p. 436 (Wisconsin). Osborn, 

 Proc Iowa Acad. Sci., I, 1887-89 (1890), p. 41 (Iowa). Ih., Annals of Iowa, 3rd 

 ser., VI, No. 8, 1905, p. 562 (Iowa). Herrick, Geol. & Nat. Hist. Surv. Minn., 

 Bull. No. 7, 1892, p. 66 (Minnesota). Evermann & Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. 

 Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 138 (Indiana). Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1894 (1895), 

 p. 85 (Indiana). Garman, Bull. Essex Inst., XXVI, 1894, P- 2 (Kentucky). 

 Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1896 (1897), p. 201 (Tennessee). 



Type locality — Pennsylvania. 



Distribution — Formerly throughout eastern North America, from 



about the Canada line south to the Gulf states; replaced in the 



West and in Florida by slightly different geographical races. 

 Description — Size large ; tail long ; general color pale tawny brown or 



grayish brown, middle of back darker than the rest; under parts 



pale; tail tipped with black; ears without tufts of long hair. The 



young are spotted. 

 Measurements — Total length (ordinary size), 6.50 to 7.50 feet; tail 



vertebrae, 28 to 34 inches; hind foot, about 10 inches. 



The Panther, or Cougar, was formerly not uncommon throughout 

 the wooded portions of Illinois and Wisconsin. The fact that it was 

 considered rare by some of the early writers has little weight, inasmuch 

 as its habits were such that, in a country where the character of the soil 

 and vegetation were such that its tracks could not be seen, its presence 

 would be very likely overlooked;* but as the country became settled, 

 they were driven out or killed and it is extremely doubtful if any exist 

 within our limits at the present time. 



Referring to early writers. Woods (1822) says,t ''Of panthers I 



* As illustrating this, I may say that I hunted for many years in southern Florida 

 where Panthers were common, so much so that rarely a day passed without finding 

 the tracks of one or more of these animals either on the sandy ridges or in the soft 

 ground bordering the cypress swamps, and yet for two seasons not a single one of 

 these big Cats was seen. It was only after a pack of trained hounds had been pressed 

 into service that three were killed in one week in the same locality. 



t Woods, J. Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on English Prairie in the 

 Illinois Country, 1820-21 (1822), p. 190. 



