So LLOYD'S NATURA.L HTSTORY. 



the limbs. They are more diffuse on the flanks, where they 

 mix with the ground-colour, producing a brownish tinge. 

 Finally, on the back, from the forehead to the sacral region, 

 they are more or less confluent, so that the whole back appears 

 to be of a black colour, which is most intense above the lumbar 

 region. A few black spots on the upper lip, a conspicuous 

 black spot surrounded by a light yellowish ring above each 

 eye, and a large one on the back of each ear, are present, as 

 in Leopards with typical coloration. On the other hand, the 

 tail differs in a remarkable manner, being fulvous for its first 

 two-thirds, this colour gradually changing into pale grey, and 

 the whole tail being sprinkled with very small and clearly 

 defined spots, while the extreme tip is black. Chin, chest, 

 belly, and inside of the legs white, with large black spots, as 

 in the ordinary Leopard. Whiskers and claws white ; hair 

 between the foot-pads black. The hairs are about of the 

 ordinary length, with a very thick under-fur on the sides of 

 the body." 



Lastly, we have a very aberrant variety from China known as 

 Fontanier's Leopard (F fontanieri)^ regarded by some writers 

 as a distinct species. Not improbably this form is really in- 

 separable from the earlier F japanensis of Gray, founded on 

 a tanned skin procured from a Japanese trader, but which 

 probably came originally from China. Concerning this Chinese 

 Leopard, Dr. J. Anderson, who has devoted great attention to 

 the subject, writes that it "is characterised by the confluence 

 of the black spots, which form rather large complete rings in 

 the adult, as in the Jaguar, but without the central black spot. 

 The fur is also long, soft, and dense. This latter character is 

 also assigned by Swinhoe to the northern race of Chinese 

 Leopards, the fur of which, he states, is confusedly spotted 

 and marked with black rings. Gray also states that the coat of 

 his F. japanensis is distinguished by its rounded and unequal- 



