THE LEOPARD. "7 
which inhabit the localities; the Leopard may be 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 
