7 2 Lloyd's natural history. 



pale-coloured within, very variable in form, size, and number, 

 the external ring being generally interrupted, and the central 

 area usually of the same hue as the ground-colour of the fur, 

 although occasionally darker. On the head, lower portions of 

 limbs, under-parts, and extremity of tail, the spots without 

 light centres j those at the tip of the upper surface of the tail 

 taking the form of transverse bars. Young brownish, with 

 the spots indistinctly defined. Skull with broad nasal bones, 

 and the hyoid arch connected with it by ligaments, instead of 

 by a series of small bones. 



Distribution. — Africa generally, Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchi- 

 stan, India, Assam, Ceylon, Burma, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Java, and China. During the Pleistocene period the Leopard 

 ranged into Western Europe, where its remains are met with 

 in caverns and superficial formations. 



Much discussion has taken place as to whether there is 

 more than a single species of Leopard in India, although all 

 writers seem to be agreed that there is but one in Africa.* It 

 may be mentioned before proceeding farther that the names 

 " Pard " and "Panther" were applied by the ancients to these 

 Spotted Cats, but whether indifferently to these animals in 

 general, or as distinctive specific terms, is not apparent. It 

 does not, moreover, seem at all clear as to whether one or 

 both of these names were first applied to the African or to the 

 Asiatic forms, although it is highly probable that they origin- 

 ally referred to the former. 



In addition to the Pard or Panther, the ancients were also 

 acquainted with the animal now commonly known as the 

 Hunting-Leopard ; and as this creature was then considered 

 to be a hybrid between the Lion and the Pard it was appro 



* The gist of this discussion on the nomenclature and varieties of Leo- 

 pards originally appeared as an article in " Land and Water." 



