THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 21 



des Plantes, where it can be seen and admired by mul- 

 titudes. Several "pilots" on the West Branch of the 

 Susquehanna kept panther cubs on their rafts, which 

 were as playful as kittens. In Pennsylvania the rut- 

 ting season usually occurred in December, and accord- 

 ing to the old hunters, the period of gestation lasted 

 three lunar months. Jack Long, the famous hunter in 

 discussing the subject with Dr. W. J._ AIcKnight, 

 author of "Pioneer Outline History of Northwestern 

 Pennsylvania," said that panthers brought forth their 

 young in September. Audubon says gestation took 

 97 days, and Dr. Conklin, former director of Central 

 Park Zoological Garden, New York City, claims 91 

 days as the period. Three to six pups was the number 

 of young produced by Pennsylvania panthers. Jesse 

 Logan, Indian panther hunter, says that panther cubs 

 were delicate, and many died while teething. Au- 

 dubon says there have been instances of five at a 

 birth, in speaking of the species in general. Samuel 

 Askey, the great Centre county panther slayer, ob- 

 tained four pups in a nest on more than one occasion. 

 In 1871 Calvin Wagner, of Bannerville, Snyder 

 county, when crossing the Seven Mountains near 

 Zerby, found a pantheress stretched out across the 

 path, playing with six healthy looking pups. He was 

 unarmed, and as the panthers made no move to vacate, 

 he took a detour to pass them. Hurrying down the 

 mountain he obtained a rifle from a settler near Penn's 

 Creek, and returned to the spot, but the animals were 

 nowhere to be seen. On the return, he encountered a 



