934 JOURNAL, BOMS AY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVll. 



Yet I tliink the skull seems to be quite out of proportion witli the ribs and 

 Mr. L. remarked the same. He tells me that he had seen this panther previously 

 on several occasions, and had examined him through his glasses, and though 

 his head and fore quarters seem9d to be extramely largs and powerfully built, 

 the body and hind quarters seemed to dwindle away ! Before this, in fact almost 

 a year ago. Col. W. told me that he had seen a panther a few miles from Dun- 

 sandli, and he described its head, chest and forearms to have been enormous. 

 It was standing on a rock about 20 yards away looking down at him, and Col. 

 W., Avho has shot manji' panthers, claimed it to be the largest he had ever seen. 

 He quite believes this animal of Mr. Limouzin's to be the one seen by him. 



Another reason Mr. Limouzin gives by wliich he is positive is that a few 

 minutes pre^dous to coming on to the Panther he heard the unmistakable call of 

 a panther. 



I much regret that I did not send you one of the claws, nearly all of which 

 Mr. Lisonzin recovered. They are quite the size of a large tigress. As regards 

 the skull, in the course of my profession I have seen many panther skulls ; many 

 of them belonging to animals well over 7 ft. but none anywhere approaching 

 this one in size." 



Writing later Mr. Limouzin says : " By to-day's Mail I have sent the entire 

 skeleton of the panther to your care (Avith the exception of one rib, smashed 

 to bits hj the bullet, and another rib, broken, possibly by the explosion, 

 internally). Before T fired at the panther I was very much struck with the 

 extraordinary size of his head and shoulders, he appeared to be immense, but 

 unfortunately he jumped aside and I was only able to get a " snapshot " at 

 his side going down hill, from me." 



The skull sent is undoubtedly that of an adult Panther. The skull sent in by 

 Mr. Van Ingen measures as follows : — 



Basal Length. Breadth. Weight. 



11-3" 7-9" 2 Jbs. 4 ozs. 



The largest specimen in Rowland Ward's "Records of Big Game" is oneobtain- 

 ■ed by Sir Edmund Loder in Gabun (W. Africa). 



The measurements are as follows : — - 



Length. ' Width. Weight. 



11-25" 7-125" lib. 12 ozs. 



The largest Indian Panthers' skulls measure : — 



Length. Width. Weight. 



lOi" 6|" . . Bijnor, U. P. A. M. Markham. 



IO'g" 6J" , . Gir Forest, Kathia- 



war. Lt.-Col. L. L. Fenton. 



10" 6f" . . Belgaum. Sir Edmund Loder, Barfc. 



The largest specimen in the Society's collection measures 8-3" in basal length 

 and is 5-9" wide across the zygomata. This animal taped 7'- 3". 



Blanford in his Mammalia, writing on the points of distinction between the 

 skulls of Tigers and Panthers say : — 



" The upper surface of the skull (Panther) is arched as in the Tiger, but the 

 lower jaw is convex beneath, as in the Lion, the cordyle being proportionately 

 nearer the a.ngle eA^en than in the latter. When a Leopard's skull, Avith the 

 mandible attached, is placed on a fiat surface, the hinder part of the skull almost 

 alAA-ays touches that surface." 



We publish for comparison a photograph of Mr. Limouzin's panther together 

 Avith a photo of a tiger's skull and that of the largest Panther skull in the Society's 

 collection. Also a Lion's skull. 



S. H. PRATER. 



BoAiBAY Natural History Sociefy, 

 June 1921. 



