284 Fretp Museum or Natura. History — Zo6.xocy, Vor. XI. 
idently aware of our visit and suspicious of danger. The next morning, 
the tracks being quite fresh, he was run down and treed by the dogs in 
less than half anhour. This animal was a good-sized male and measured 
seven feet six inches from nose to tip of tail, and is the largest Panther 
I have killed in Florida, although the Indians claim they occa- 
sionally grow somewhat larger. I am inclined to believe, however, 
that Panthers rarely exceed eight feet in length in Florida, or anywhere 
else in the United States. A full grown male Florida Panther will 
Young Florida Panther. 
weigh from 125 to 150 pounds, but I have seen adult females of that 
form which were slightly less than six feet in length and weighed about 
80 pounds. The western form averages larger, males 160 to 170 pounds 
in weight being not uncommon. Ina series of specimens from Colorado 
recorded by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt* the lengths of three males 
are given as 7 feet 6 inches, 7 feet 8 inches and 8 feet, the latter being 
an unusually large animal which weighed 227 pounds. 
The question as to how far a Panther can spring at a single leap has 
often been discussed. On one occasion a female chased by hounds was 
seen by one of my men to leap across a creek which was afterward 
measured and the width from bank to bank was found to be 25 feet. 
This seemed to me to be a very good leap at the time, but it is insignif- 
icant when compared with those described by Dr. Merriam, who says, 
“On one occasion Mr. Sheppard measured a leap, over snow, of nearly 
* Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, 1908, p. 31. 
