7 6 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



merely varieties of a single species, they are alluded to under 

 separate specific names. On the other hand, Mr. Sterndale is 

 as firmly convinced that there are two distinct Indian species, 

 which he names as above. 



With the advantage of all the information accumulated by 

 his predecessors before him, Mr. Blanford — our best and latest 

 authority on Indian Mammals — fully adopts the views of Blyth 

 as to the specific unity of all these forms. We have already 

 alluded to his opinion as to the impossibility of distinguishing 

 between the skins of the larger and the smaller varieties found 

 in India, and he adds the suggestion that even such distinction 

 as there is between these two varieties may, in some cases, be 

 largely due to differences of age. Here it may be mentioned 

 that there is yet another variety, found in Persia, the so-called 

 F tulliana, characterised by the great length of the fur and 

 the thickness of the tail, this form being, in fact, intermediate 

 in this respect, and also in the shape of its spots, between the 

 ordinary Indian Leopard and the Ounce, or Snow-Leopard. 

 Mr. Blanford sums up the whole question by showing that 

 both the African and the Persian varieties pass by insensible 

 gradations into the ordinary form, and states that he cannot 

 find any difference in the skulls, or evidence to satisfy him 

 that there is any constant distinction between different races 

 of Leopards, Pards, or Panthers. In this conclusion, so far 

 as our own experience admits of our forming a judgment, we 

 fully agree ; and we also consider it advisable to adopt the 

 name of Leopard (Felis pardus) for the species of Spotted Cat 

 common both to Africa and Asia. At the same time, we 

 must guard ourselves against it being supposed that we adopt 

 the views of the late Sir Samuel Baker, who seems to consider 

 that every Spotted Cat may be included under the name of 

 Leopard. Thus, when writing on the Leopard, he observes 

 that " different countries adopt special names for the varieties 



