THE LEOPARD AND PANTHER 



THOSE conflicting opinions we have thus far seen ex- 

 pressed upon the habits and characters of wild beasts, 

 are not replaced by any unanimity upon the part of those 

 who have described leopards and panthers. They have a 

 less voluminous literature than the lion or elephant, but 

 their temper and traits are disputed about in every partic- 

 ular, and even the place they occupy in nature. 



The only difference between a panther and a leopard is 

 one of size ; or as G. P. Sanderson (" Thirteen Years 

 among the Wild Beasts of India ") expresses it, the dis- 

 tinction is the same as that existing between a " horse and 

 a pony." Dr. Jerdon (" Mammals of India") states that 

 they are merely "varieties of Fclis pardiis,'' and if the 

 species-making mania were not so prevalent, one might 

 wonder at men who constantly met with these creatures 

 in Asia and Africa, and yet wrote about them as if 

 they belonged to distinct groups, and had very little in 

 common. 



Major H. A. Leveson (" Sport in Many Lands") thus 

 describes the panther : " This animal frequently measures 

 eight feet in length from its nose to the end of its tail. It 

 has a well-defined, bony ridge along the centre of its skull 

 for the attachment of the muscles of the neck, which is not 



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