THE LEOPARD. V5 
priately designated the ‘‘ Leopard.” By a curious misappli- 
cation of terms, the name ‘‘ Leopard” has, however, now been 
transferred to the Spotted True Cats, and has thus quite dis- 
placed the old word ‘‘ Pard.” It would, of course, be utterly 
hopeless to attempt to reintroduce the latter term, and to 
restore the term ‘‘ Leopard ” to its original owner; and we are 
all accordingly agreed to call the True Spotted Cats either 
Leopards or Panthers. 
This transference of the name “‘ Leopard” of course left the 
animal to which it was originally applied without a distinctive 
title. To remedy this want, the Hindustani term “ Chita” was 
brought into use in this country to designate the animal which 
we prefer to call the Hunting-Leopard. Sucha use of the term 
Chita is, however, totally unjustifiable, since that name is applied 
in India both to the Leopard, or Panther, and the Hunting- 
Leopard, its meaning being merely “spotted.” Sometimes, 
indeed, the Leopard, or Panther, is especially distinguished 
as the Chita-Bagh (Spotted Tiger), but the simple term Chita 
is the common attribute of all these animals. It is on this 
ground that we prefer to reject the Hindustani term altogether, 
and to employ the English title of ‘“‘ Hunting-Leopard.” Atten- 
tion may be directed here to a statement in the late Mr. G. P. 
Saunderson’s book on the wild beasts of India which we are 
greatly surprised to meet with in a writer of his Indian experi- 
ence. It is there written that ‘‘of the handsome spotted skins 
that grace many Indian bungalows, and which are generally 
referred to as Cheeta skins, at least ninety-nine out of every 
hundred are those of the Panther or of the Leopard.” Now, 
no one in their senses ever thought that Chita skins in India 
meant anything else than Leopard or Panther pelts, and we are 
surprised that Mr. Saunderson actually went out of his way in 
an earlier sentence of the paragraph quoted to say that the 
name Chita was incorrectly applied to the Leopard, or Panther. 
