MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 933: 



I. myself, when stationed in Bilaspur District in. 

 1919, did my best in the hot weather to come up 

 with a white tiger, whicli must have been a very 

 large and heavy animal, judging from the size of 

 the pug-marks which I tracked on many occasions. 

 This tiger was however very shy and would not 

 look at tied 'kills' but was especially fond of bison 

 cows and calves. He was constantly seen by 

 herdsmen in the jungle, but never made an attempt 

 to take an animal out of the herd. The above 

 would seem to indicate that these white tigers 

 run large, which suggests a theory that they are 

 not mere albinos but a distinct Variety of Felis 

 tigris. These wliite tigers have besn known 

 for years in the neighbourhood where the Bilaspur 

 and Mandla Districts of the C. P. join with Rewa 

 State. One was shot by a villager in the north of 

 Bilaspur District, about 15 years ago, and another 

 in the Rewa State some years later. There are at 

 present to my knowledge three white tigers in the 

 jungle and it is quite probable that there are many 

 more, as the area in Maikal Hills, which they iri. 

 habit is largo, wild, and hilly, and, since the beat- 

 ing for or killing of tigers is prohibited in the 

 State, it is possible that these shy white tigers 

 might roam in this secluded jungle for years undetec- 

 ted and unmolested. Last year in the hot weather 

 two of these white tigers, full grown, were seen 

 taking a sai>d bath in the bed of a stream in the 

 South of this State. They may of course have 

 been born of the same mother but the observed 

 constant association of white tigers with one another 

 tempts one to believe that they do not inter- 

 breed with the ordinary variety of tiger. 



EDITORS. 



No. II.— RECORD PANTHER SKULL (F. PAIWUS). 

 ( With a jilale.) 



Through Mr. Eugene J. Van Ingen, the Society recently received the skull of a 

 Panther which in dimension easily establishes a record for India. Tlu animal 

 was obtained by Mr. E. E. Limouzin of Dunsandle Estate, Ootacamund, in the 

 Water FaU Shola. 



In forwarding the skull Mr. Van Ingen writes : — 



" I send herewith the skull and ribs of a Panther (?). As the skull seems 

 abnormally large and more like a tiger's, I should be extremely obUged, if you 

 would examine it and tell me whether it is a tiger's or panther's. 



I may mention that the owner, Mr. E. E. Limouzin of Dunsandii Estate, 

 Ootacamund, declares it to be a Panther's but yet is not quite sure about it. While 

 out shooting he caught a glimpse of the animal, late in the evening about dusk, 

 and wounded and lost it. It was found some days afterwards but by then de- 

 composition had set in and vultj^res and jackals had destroyed the skin ; the 

 skeleton and skull remained together with strips of skin, and Mr. Limouzin 

 examined what he found of the latter carefully and is positive that the animal 

 is a panther. 



