UNCLE BILLY MURCH'S HAIR-RAISER At about this time Tom and I were up at the Murches' one evening to see Willis, and persuaded old Uncle Billy, Willis' grandfather, to tell us his panther story again.

That panther story was a veritable hair-raiser; and we were never tired of hearing the old man tell it.

Owing to our severe climate panthers were never very numerous in northern New England--not nearly so numerous as panther stories, in which the "panther" is usually a Canadian lynx.

Even at present we occasionally hear of a catamount or an "Indian devil"; but perhaps the last real panther was trapped and shot in the town of Wardsboro, Vermont, in 1875.
There can be no doubt whatever that it was a genuine panther, for its skin and bones, handsomely mounted, as taxidermists say, can be seen at any time in the Museum of Natural History in Boston.

It is a fine specimen of the New England variety of the _Felis concolor_ and would no doubt have proved an ugly customer to meet on a dark night.
No doubt there were panthers larger than that one.