263 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XKVL 



the case of a pair of black panthers from North China at Kolhaptir which 

 twicd bred in captivity and eacH time produced black cubs. A male bred 

 with a fulvous female; the resulting cub had larger, blacker, and moro 

 glossy spots than usual, and the peacock spots altogether larger and more 

 deJiaed. Colonel Ferris thought this pair belonged to a distinct species. 

 They were uniform black, but in the sunlight a faint trace of spots was 

 visible on the sides, and lower doA'n on the belly the spots were more 

 apparent and the hair was of a deep brown. The spots were not, hovsrever, 

 "live Hiiger tipped or circular broken rosettes but entirely black blotches 

 without annulation. The tongue was brilliant pink, and the palate of the 

 male pink, but of that on tht- female there were two small black spots. Un- 

 der the tongue both were blackish ; the gums above and below the front teeth 

 and in which they were set were black". He mentions the case of a black 

 panther shot in Canara having a black tongue ; this is an interesting point 

 calling for further evidence. One shot by Colonel Grantham had a pink 

 tongue. The so-called black panther appears to be generally more dark 

 brown than black, and in the sunlight the rosettes stand out plainly. 



Black panthers, as one would expect, appear to be more frequently met 

 within the dense forests of the south, west and north than in other parts 

 of India. They are perhaps more common in the Malay States, where the 

 forests are dense and the climate is moist. I never heard of or saw one 

 in the Deccan, but one was seen in Sironcha, and 1 heard of one being shot 

 in the Central Provinces. In the Nilgiris and Mysore they appear to be 

 less rare. In a very entertaining book. Colonel Welsh's Militaiij Remineh- 

 cences, published in 1830, it is siated that both black panthers and black 

 tigers were found in the forests of Travancore. The black tigers may be 

 doubted, but Major Capper believes that he saw one in the Cardamom 

 Hills in that State in 1895 ; and Mr. Hauxwell saw and wounded one, 

 to the best of his belief, in the Bhamo District in Burma in 1913. Dr. Blan- 

 ford mentions one shot near Chittagong many years ago. This is the black 

 tiger of which a full account was given by Mr. C. T. Buckland in the Field. 

 The account was reproduced in Volume IV of this Journal. Mr. Buckland saw 

 the dead tiger, which was killed by a poisoned arrow two miles from Chitta- 

 gong in March 1846. The skin, which was unfortunately too decomposed 

 for preservation, was black or very dark brown, the stripes showing a dark- 

 er black in the sunlight. The dead tiger was also seen by Captains Swat- 

 man and Hore In the "Observer" of January 11th, 1811, it is recorded 

 that "a large black tiger, the only one ever seen alive in Europe, intend- 

 ed as a present from the King of Java to Bonaparte, taken in the Gude 

 Vrow on the passage to France, is now to be seen at Kendrick's collection 

 of Rare Foreign Beasts and Birds, No. 40, opposite St. James's Church, 

 Piccadilly." But this was more probably a panther, and the case for black 

 tigers, except the Chittagong specimen, is " not proven." In Java black 

 panthers are said to be not uncommon, and one writer has suggested that 

 their colour is due to natural selection for the purpose of facilitating their 

 pursuit of the black gibbons on which they prey. Surely this is the theory 

 of protective coloration run wild. 



In a book entitled " The view of Hindustan," by Thomas Pennant, 1798, 

 it is recorded that a black panther, taJ'en in the Sunderbunds, was pre- 

 sented to the Menagerie in the Tower of London by Warren H stings; 

 Also that "a leopard of a dirty white colour, spotted with grey, takpn ne&j 

 Agra," was presented to Jehangir. , . 



Bates, in his " Naturalist on the Amazons," makes frequent mentions of 

 black jaguars in, the forests of Brazil. 



On the other hand albinism appears to be commoner in the larger feline; 

 f have never he^rd of a white panther. Dr. Lydekker mentions s^v era 



