394 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



" Joe " replies to Nimrod's comment : — 



" The manner of measuring tigers, scientifically speaking, is certainly 

 " open to objection ; but it must be recollected universal custom 

 " warrants the style adopted by me. If from time immemorial the 

 " height of a horse had been mesasured by a tape instead of a rod, it 

 " would be the accepted method now; therefore, if I were to place a stake- 

 " at the nose, and another at the tip of the tail, and then register the 

 " length of a tiger, instead of carrying the tape along the back, my way 

 '' of measuring would decidedly be the exception and not the rvile." 



" To further satisfy sceptics, I will now state that all the measurements^ 



" recorded were taken by me personally or else by some member of the 



" party there present ; a tape carried out for the purpose was always 



" used, and I may here add, the one I use is made of steel and has 



" assisted in taking the dimensions of several scores of tigers." 



He adds that the skeleton of a tiger 11' long was handed over by him to the 



Indian Museum in 1871. A lengthened description of this tiger by "Bruiser " 



is given in the Oriental Sporting Magazine for July 1871. 



The Society possesses the skull of a very large tiger shot by Mr. J. L. Shilling- 

 ford in Purneah. Records of this tiger's body measurements are not available 

 but the skull is lij" in length. The record skull according to Rowland Ward 

 is I5f" and was shot by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar. 



We shall be glad to hear from members of the Society on the above subject — 



Editoks.. 



No. v.— NOTES ON PANTHERS. 



In the J ournal of our Society, Vol. XXVI, No. 3, page 841, is an interesting 

 article by H. H. The Maharaja of Dhar on the big game of the Dhar State. I 

 note that out of 106 panthers shot no less than 8 have taped eight feet in length. 



The Indian Field Shikar book, third Edition, 1906, mentions only four panthers 

 of 8 feet and over, viz., one shot by Capt. A. G. Arbuthnot (the longest 

 on record) 8 feet 5 J inches. One shot by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar mea- 

 suring 8 feet 4 inches. One of 8 feet 3 inches shot in Gurhwal ; and one of 8- 

 feet shot in Pauna. 



I fear I am a sceptic in the matter of measurements. I speak from experience 

 as I have been in at the death of well over a hundred panthers and not one of 

 them approached 8 feet when measured between upright stakes. This experi- 

 ence covers India from Assam to Kathiawar. 



Of this large number, the longest taped 7 feet 5J inches immediately after 

 death, he was a long lithe beast, built hke a grey hound, old, and very light 

 coloured. The story of his end is rather interesting :— I was walking through 

 the Gir forest in the month of April 1913 examining the watershed of the hills 

 with a view to finding a suitable passage for a Railway. After mid-day I sat 

 down in a patch of long grass under a huge banian tree for a rest and a frugal 

 lunch, the latter was just finished when my attendent tapped me on the shoulder- 

 and pointed to a large panther walking through the grass about 30 yards away. 

 I had a smack at him with my 300 H. V. but the bullet was deflected by the 

 grass and struck him high up in the loins. Curiously, he did not answer to the- 

 shot, and as there was no blood on the trail it looked like a miss. Half a dozen 

 armed forest guards joined us, and we followed up the track ; after going 

 about 70 yards there was a huge splash of blood on a dry teak leaf, and of 

 course every one rushed to examine it. Whilst we were bending down, there- 

 was a hoarse grunt and we looked up to see the panther almost on us. We- 

 all had a bang at him, and he rolled over at our feet simply riddled with buck- 

 shot and bullets. 



