THE HUNTING LEOPARD 6"] 



slender, set on very long legs, and furnished with an 

 ample tail. Although included in the cat family, the 

 cheetah is remarkable for its crisp and coarse fur, 

 quite different from the short sleek covering of 

 normal Felidae ; on the neck the hair is developed 

 into a semi-mane. The claws of the hunting leopard 

 are but semi-retractile and cannot be completely 

 sheathed like those of normal cats. 



The ground colour of the present species is fawn 

 paling to white; it is promiscuously covered with 

 round black spots "semee over a field tenne " as the 

 heralds woulds have said. Indian and most African 

 examples have a black streak running from the inner 

 angle of the eye to the upper lip. The terminal halt 

 of the white-tipped tail is ringed with black. Occa- 

 sionally there are curious departures from the typical 

 coloration which perhaps indicate a tendency to 

 albinism. Thus, on May 29, 1877, the Zoological 

 Society purchased from Mr. Arthur Mosenthal an 

 aberrant cheetah in which the facial streak was 

 wanting, while the black spots were replaced with 

 fulvous, and the fawn ground colour by isabelline. 

 This animal was at first regarded as a new species 

 under the name of F. lanea, but is now considered 

 as a mere variety of the typical form ; a similar 

 example is in the Capetown Museum. The extreme 

 south of Cape Colony seems for some reason to be 

 specially favourable to albinism ; both these examples 

 came from Beaufort West, a sanatorium in the 



