ittle to do
with the worthiness of a creature, otherwise our bull-dogs would have
their caudal appendages left in peace. Now every shikari knows that
there may be a heavy tiger with a short tail and a light bodied one
with a long tail. Yet the measurement of each would be equal, and
give no criterion as to the size of the brute. Here's this tiger of
yours; I call him a heavy one, twenty-eight inches round the fore-arm,
and big in every way, yet his measurement does not sound large (it
was 9 feet 10 inches), and had he six inches more tail he would gain
immensely by it in reputation. The biggest panther I ever shot had
a stump only six inches long; and according to the usual system of
measuring he would have read as being a very small creature indeed."
Tails do vary. Sir Walter Elliot was a very careful observer, and
in his comparison of the two largest males and two largest females,
killed between 1829 and 1833, out of 70 to 80 specimens, it will be
seen that the largest animal in each sex had the shortest tail:--

---------------------------------------------------------------
| Adult Male. | Adult Female.
------------------------+-------------------+------------------
| ft. in. | ft. in. | ft. in. | ft. in.
Length of head and body | 6 2 | 5 6 | 5 3-1/2 | 5 2
| | | |
Length of tail | 3 1-1/2 | 3 3 | 2 11 | 3 2
|---------+---------|---------|--------
| 9 3-1/2 | 8 9 | 8 2-1/2 | 8 4
---------------------------------------------------------------

Campbell, in his notes to 'The Old Forest-Ranger,' gives the
dimensions of a tiger of 9 ft. 5 in. of which the tail was only 2
ft. 10 in. From the other detailed measurements it must have been
an enormous tiger. The number of caudal vertebrae in the tiger and
lion should be twenty-six. I now regret that I did not carefully
examine the osteology of all short-tailed tigers which I have come
across, to see whether they had the full complement of vertebrae.
The big tiger in the museum is short by the six terminal joints =
three inches. This may have occurred during life, as in the case of
the above-quoted panther; anyhow the tail should, I think, be thrown
out of the calculation. Now as to the measurement of the head and
body, I quite acknowledge that there must be a different standard
for the spo