280 Frerp Museum oF NaturaL History — Zoéxocy, Voi. 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. Haun, 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). KeEnnicott, Trans. Ill. State Agr. Soc., I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 578 
(Cook Co., Illinois). THomas, Trans. Ill. 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). Ossorn, 
Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., I, 1887-89 (1890), p. 41 (Iowa). Jb., Annals of Iowa, 3rd 
ser., VI, No. 8, 1905, p. 562 (Iowa). Herrricx, Geol. & Nat. Hist. Surv. Minn., 
Bull. No. 7, 1892, p. 66 (Minnesota). EVERMANN & BuTLeEr, Proc. Ind. Acad. 
Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 138 (Indiana). But Ler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1894 (1895), 
p. 85 (Indiana). GARMAN, Bull. Essex Inst., XXVI, 1894, p. 2 (Kentucky). 
Ruoaps, 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 
vertebree, 28 to 34 inches; hind foot, about ro inches. 
The Panther, or Cougar, was formerly not uncommon throughout 
the wooded portions of Ilinois 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. 
