TIGER. 
375 
The above dimensions are taken in a straight line, but the usual manner of 
measuring a tiger adopted by sportsmen is to follow the curves of the body, when 
the dimensions will, of course, be somewhat greater; and it appears that all the 
largest tigers on record have been measured in this manner. Full-grown tigers 
thus measured vary from 9 to 10 feet in length; and tigresses from 8 to 
9 feet. Unusually line specimens will, however, reach, or even slightly exceed, a 
length of 12 feet; 12 feet 2 inches being apparently the maximum dimensions 
ascertained with any approach to accuracy. It is, however, by no means invariably 
the case that tigresses reach the minimum length mentioned above, Mr. Blanford 
stating that he killed one apparently adult example that was only 7J feet long, 
while a second measured but 7 feet 8 inches. 
There is still need of additional information as to the maximum weight 
attained by tigers. Sanderson gave the weight of a fine male tiger killed by 
himself as 350 lbs.; while specimens weighed by the late Sir W. Elliot weighed 362 
and 380 lbs. Forsyth concluded, however, that some unusually large tigers, which 
fell to his own rifle, must have weighed from 450 to 500 lbs. These extreme 
weights have, of late years, been confirmed by Mr. W. T. Hornaday, who records a 
tiger measuring 9 feet 114 inches in length, of which the weight was upwards of 495 
lbs. The Maharaja of Kuch-Behar has killed tigers which are stated to have varied 
from 481 to 540 lbs.; and one shot by Mr. F. Shillingford, of which the length was 
9 feet 10 inches, weighed a little over 520 lbs. The weight of a tiger depends, of 
course, largely upon the condition of the animal at the time of its death; and if a 
specimen under 10 feet in length will turn the scale at over 500 lbs., it may be 
taken as certain that those of 11 or 12 feet in equally good condition must reach 
considerably heavier weights. 
Although mainly, if not entirely, confined to Asia, the tiger has an extensive 
geographical distribution on that continent and its islands. To the westward its 
range appears to be limited by the mountains of Ararat and the Caucasus, whence 
it extends along the southern shores of the Caspian—the ancient Hyrcania—into 
Northern Persia, the Herat district, and thence into Turkestan. Thence it ranges 
over a large portion of Central Asia, embracing Southern Siberia, to a line some 
distance north of Irkutsk, and the whole of Mongolia as far eastwards as Amur- 
land and the Island of Saghalien. And its fossil remains have been obtained, 
in company with those of the mammoth, from the New Siberian Islands lying 
some distance within the Arctic Circle. From Mongolia the range of the tiger 
extends southwards through China to Burma, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula; 
and it also embraces the Islands of Sumatra and Java, but not, it is said, Borneo. 
Across the Assam district, at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, the 
tiger ranges into India, where it is found from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya; 
although quite unknown in the Island of Ceylon. The whole of the elevated 
plateau of Tibet forms, however, an island in its distributional area into which 
the tiger does not intrude. And, as we learn from Mr. Blanford, it is 
equally unknown in Afghanistan and Baluchistan, as well as in that portion 
of Persia lying to the southward of the Elburz Mountains. From this extensive 
distribution it is evident that the popular idea of regarding the tiger as a 
tropical animal is quite erroneous. And it is even doubtful—in spite of the 
