N. GYLDENSTOLPE, MAMMALS COLLECTED IN SIAM. 23 



a leopard having attacked some natives without having been 

 wounded before. That happened on a small rice-field, which 

 was quite surrounded by a dense jungle, and when one of the 

 party went near the jungle a leopard suddenly jumped at him, 

 and the poor man was wounded to death before his com- 

 rades were able to come to the rescue. This event took 

 place near the village of Sakerat about a month before I 

 arrived, and about a fortnight låter another native — this 

 time a young girl — was severely wounded by the same 

 brute. 



A few days af ter my arrival to the village I got infor- 

 mation that the same leopard, which was known by its great 

 size, had attacked and killed a buffalo-calf in broad daylight 

 about 300 meters from my camp. The brute had, however, 

 been frightened away by some boys before it had dragged 

 the carcass into the surrounding dense jungle. As there was 

 no moonlight the chances to get the leopard when coming 

 back to finish its interrupted feast were very small, but I 

 resolved to wait över the kill in a »machan» which was built 

 in a neighbouring tree. Just as it began to be pitch dark 

 the leopard returned and was killed by a shot through the 

 lungs. The specimen turned out to be a very old male. In 

 the collection there are two more specimens — both fema- 

 les — the one shot in the forests near Kao Plyng on the 

 24 th of March 1912, and the other presented by the High 

 Comissioner in Muang Pré. 



The tracks of leopards were often observed, and the 

 species seems to be very abundant in every part of the 

 country. 



Leopards chiefly feed on dögs, goats and fowls and some- 

 times they could be real plagues for a village in consequence 

 of their great boldness, and at several occasions dögs were 

 snatched away from the stepladders leading up to the na- 

 tive huts. 



The black variety also occurs in Siarn, and I saw some 

 skins brought in by the natives to the märket at Bangkok. 



Parts of the intestine such as heart, liver, gallbladder 

 a. s. o. are highly valued as a medicine by the natives, 

 especially the Chinese who believe that these things give to 

 their small children a great boldness, together with the early 

 pubescense of man. The whiskers, claws and canines are also 



