MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
78d 
quite hidden behind the ridge. Col. Kennion in his fascinating book, “ Sport 
and Life in the further Himalaya,” relates a similar incident where the changing 
of the wind in the middle of the stalk lost him a big head. 
COMPAKISON OF TiGEE AND PaNIHER SkULLS. 
(Tol. XXVII, No. 4, Mi'sc. Note No. 2.) 
Mrs. Maxwell writes : — 
“ It may be of interest in connection with the photographs of skulls in the 
journal of 31st July 1921, page 934, to see a photograph of two tiger skulls, the 
occipital cond 3 des of which rest on the surface of the table, and to know that 
four out of eight tiger skulls in our possession have the occipital cond 3 des in 
contact with the table.” 
We have examined a series of 24 tiger skulls in the SocietA^’s collection and find 
that in 7 skulls the occipital condyles were in contact with the surface on 
which they were resting. The remainder were raised above. It would appear 
from this, that, as a jK)int of difference between Tiger and Panther skulls, Blan- 
ford’s test would be of little value, since the above mentioned character is to be 
observed in the skulls of both animals, though possibly to a less extent in th 3 
Tiger. 
B. C. Ellison, C.M.Z.S. 
Panthers and Artificial Light. 
(Vol. XXVIII, No. 1, Misc. Note No. 2.) 
Mr. R. C. Morris writes ;• — With reference to the note rmder the above 
heading wnitten by Mr. C. B Beadnell, the following accoimt should be of 
interest: 
In February 1921, m 3 ' wife and I were sitting up over a “ kill ” in a shola. 
Soon after dark I decided to test the electric light apparatus and found that it 
was not working. There was no time or light to see what was wrong, and whist- 
ling for our sholaga shikaris, I instructed them to tie up a hunicane lamp over 
the kill. While they were doing so the panther came to the edge of the cleared 
patch round the kill and slimk back into the shola on seeing the men. I had to 
call out to the men, who had not seen the panther, to clear out. A few minutes 
later the panther walked out into the full light of the lantern and started his 
meal and paid the penalty for his daring. Another panther was killed, and yet 
another was missed, in lantern light last year on these hills and I know of no 
other instances. 
An instance of the extraordinary cunning of panthers is showm by the 
foUow'ing incident : — 
Recently my wife’s favourite dog was killed by a panther and we sat up over 
the kill until it began to rain, when we decided to return to our bimgalow. 
My wife did not like the idea of the panther turning up and devouring the dog’s 
remains in oim absence and so we had the carcase put up on the machan. On 
our visiting the spot the next morning we were astonished to find that the pan- 
ther had cfimbed up on to the machan and had devoured the remains of the dog. 
The machan was a considerable height off the ground. 
Living a life in the jungle one sees or comes across many strange and exciting 
jungle incidents and tragedies. Perhaps the most extraordinary sight that I 
have ever witnessed was the killing of a solitary bull bison by a solitary 
elephant. 
