BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL 40(3)


analyses varied, methods and results are combined for each of the four characters
discussed: pelage color, pelage traits, cranial profile, and cranial variation.

 PELAGE COLOR
 Methods

 Cory (1896) reported the pelage of the Florida panther as being "more rufous
or reddish brown" than more northern cats. Goldman (1946), using color
standards developed by Ridgeway (1912), described them as 'tawny' heavily mixed
with black in the mid-line becoming cinnamon-buffy or dull 'clay color' on the
sides of the neck. Florida cats are considered dark, but no melanistic cougars have
ever been authenticated. Goldman (1946, p. 235) described a distinct facial pattern
as: face in general greyish-brown, the blackish areas at the base of vibrissae
prominent, ears black externally. There are subtle color differences between
populations in facial patterns and in color shifts along the flanks, inside of the legs,
and the underside of the neck and chest; however, these were not incorporated as
variables in the quantitative analyses.
 A spectrophotometer (Color Scan by Milton Roy Company, Analytical
Products Division, Rochester, New York) was used to measure the color of 282
museum pelts representing 13 subspecies from North and South America. The
instrument measures spectral variables that correspond to dominant wavelength (or
hue), saturation (or chroma), and lightness. In addition, it evaluates each sample
(reading) with respect to its position on a red-green scale and a yellow-blue scale
(from I to 100), with low values toward green and blue and high values toward red
and yellow, respectively. Measurements for dominant wavelength and saturation
can be expressed in several ways, but those used in this study are trichromatic
coefficients for x (=dominant wavelength) and y (=saturation). Each is calculated
from the percentage of the three primary colors required to match the sample being
measured. Lightness (luminous reflection) is expressed as a number on a relative
scale from I to 100.
 Seven readings were taken on each skin: three mid-dorsal, three lateral, and
one belly (Fig. 2). Dorsal values represent the darker midline exhibited by many
individuals. Lateral color measurements were taken at the hip, ribs and shoulder.
These represent the predominant color of each pelt. The mid-ventral belly
measurement was eventually discarded because of the tremendous variability
shown by the values as a result of dark basal underfur showing through the lighter
guard hairs of the belly fur. High correlation coefficients (>0.9) for each of the two
back measurements and each of the three lateral measurements allowed reduction
of the dorsal and lateral color variables to one value for each. The final data set
consisted of eight variables: three values each (hue, saturation, lightness) for a