THE LEOPARD. 77 



prbich inhabit the localities; the Leopard maybe termed a 

 Panther, or Cheetah, or Wild Cat, or even a Jaguar, but it 

 remains a Leopard, differing in size, colour, and form of spots, 

 but, nevertheless, a Leopard. I shall therefore accept that 

 name as including every variety." This, of course, is driving 

 the principle of " lumping " to an absurdity, and if we include 

 a Jaguar under the title of Leopard, we might as well at once 

 class a Tiger and a Puma under the same name. 



Leaving, then, those who believe in the distinction between 

 a Leopard and a Panther to assign those terms in the manner 

 which seems to them best, we pass on to consider the chief 

 varieties of these animals. 



We have already seen that Asiatic Leopards are charac- 

 terised by the large size of the spots on the body, which 

 assume a more or less well-defined rosette-like form with a 

 light centre. It appears that the smaller variety of the Asiatic 

 Leopard is the one generally found on the plains of Peninsular 

 India, and is characterised by the small size of the spots and 

 the paler tint of the ground-colour of the fur ; these features 

 being generally accompanied by a greater length of tail, 

 and a proportionately short head. On the other hand, the 

 larger Asiatic Leopard, in which the spots are large and 

 distinct, the ground-colour of the fur tending to reddish, and 

 the tail short, more generally frequents the damp forests of 

 Bengal, Assam, the Himalaya, and Burma. A large series of 

 specimens will, however, show a complete transition between 

 these two types. 



Occasionally, and more especially in forest-districts at con- 

 siderable elevations above the sea-level, there is found a black 

 variety of the Asiatic Leopard. These black Leopards, which 

 appear to be more common in Southern India and the Malay 

 Peninsula than elsewhere, were formerly regarded as indicat- 

 ing a distinct species, but the occurrence of both black and 



