THE LEOPARD. 20I 



was, moreover, productive of rather unpleasant consequences to its 

 fellow voyagers. For, as is the custom with all the cat tribe, he de- 

 lighted in sticking his claws into the clothes of his human acquaintances. 

 This jaguar remembered Captain Inglefield after an absence of two years. 



THE LEOPARD AND THE PANTHER. 



From the time of Aristotle, the founder of the science of natural his- 

 tory, down to the present day, there have been disputes as to the identity 

 or distinction of the panther and the leopard. From this uncertainty 

 great confusion has arisen, and nothing but the examination of the living 

 animals has enabled modern investigators to finally establish the distinc- 

 tion between the two species. The leopard has a brighter coat than the 

 panther, the spots being further apart and the centre darker, and its tail 

 has only twenty-two vertebra;, while that of the panther has twenty -eight. 

 They have also different habitats ; the true panther is found in India and 

 the Indian islands ; the leopard is found in Africa. Hence the title 

 "African Panther" is a misnomer in one direction, and "Japan Leopard" 

 in the other. 



The Leopard, FcHs pardus (Plate VIII), resembles the jaguar in figure. 

 His total length is over seven feet, including one-third of that length in 

 the tail. The head is large and round, the muzzle slightly prominent, the 

 neck very short, the body powerful, the limbs of moderate length, the 

 paws very large. The ground of his beautiful coat is of a reddish-golden 

 hue, darker on the back, and becoming a light yellow on the throat and 

 belly. Perpendicularly over the upper lip broad black stripes are seen, 

 as well as a large*oval spot at the corner of the mouth, and a smaller one 

 over each eye. The rest of his body is covered with black, round or 

 roundish spots, about the size of a walnut. Some of these spots on the 

 shoulders and all those of the back consist of a dark centre surrounded 

 by two crescent-shaped lines, which usually coalesce ; on the flanks, where 

 the spots are arranged rather transversely than longitudinally, the centres 

 are surrounded by three or four semicircles. 



The leopard is a terrible animal, and will make a bound of forty feet 

 with surprising ease. It keeps by preference in places covered with 

 brushwood, and near streams or arms of the sea. The leopard, perhaps, 

 does not climb on trees ; but every day, before commencing his search 

 for prey, he sharpens his claws on a tree, just as our cats do m the carpet 

 26 



