LEOPARDS. 99 



The most striking thing in this table is, not the greater number of arboreal and aerinl forms in 

 Borneo, for that we see is quite equalled in India and West Africa, but the absence of terrestrial 

 species. Wliilst the terrestrial species form only a thirteenth of the whole in Borneo, and a fourth in 

 Java and Sumatra (which, b}- the waj', shows that these islands have been subjected, in a certain 

 degree, to the same controlling influences as Borneo), in India and West Africa, they amount 

 to a half, and in Middle and South Africa to more than three-fourths of the whole. It is as 

 if the number of arboreal species had not been increased bej^ond what would appear to be the normal 

 proportion under similar conditions (as why should it ?), but that the number of the terrestrial species 

 was diminished ; swept away or never gained a footing. 



Leopakds (Map 15). The great Spotted Cats have an especial interest from the existence of 

 living representatives in the New as well as in the Old World. The Old-world Leopard or Panther 

 has many varieties, there being no fewer than nine synonyms attached to its name ; there are, 

 however, only two now recognised as sufficiently distinct to merit separation, — the Leopard and the 

 Panther, the former being supposed to range over Africa, India, the JIalayan region, Java and 

 Sumatra, the latter to be confined to the Asiatic districts, and not to be found in Africa ; and the 

 opinion of many naturalists is that there is in realitj^ only one species. The chief character relied 

 on by those who acbuit two species is the relative length of the tail. The distribution of bolh 

 (if they be two) is general throughout Southern Asia, and in the Indian region is almost the 

 same as that of the Tiger. Unlike the Tiger, it inhabits Ceylon and Borneo. 



A distinct species of Leopard is said by Mr. S^vinhoe to be found in the island of Formosa. 



Remains which cannot be distinguished from those of the common leopard have been found 

 in the diku'ium of Middle Europe. 



Felis Ireis. The Ounce or Snow Leopard represents the Leopard in the high regions of Thibet, 

 being, along with Felis Manul and Caxis Corsac, the most characteristic animals of the district. 

 It extends into Amourland, but is not so common there as the Tiger. It is also found in the island 

 of Saghalien. Herr Radde states that it is rather abimdant in AVestern Siberia. It is less so in 

 Eastern Siberia, although occasionally met with in the Bureja Mountains. 



Felis Onca (Map 15). The J.a.guaii is the representative of the Leopard in America, and their 

 physical resemblance to each other is too great to allow any one to doubt that they have been derived 

 either from a common ancestor or one from the other. 



How, then, are we to account for their being found on opi^osite sides of the Atlantic or 

 Pacific ! The closeness of their resemblance naturally suggests a recent divergence from the couuuon 

 stock, and we might expect that their distribution is due to the ancestors of the one or the other 

 having found their way across from Europe to America, or from iinierica to Europe, after the retreat 

 of the glacial cold, and before the bridge afforded by the miocene Atlantis had been broken down. 

 But unfortunately for this view we know that this bridge was severed before mammals had become 

 established sufficiently far north to avail themselves of it. It is only northern plants and insects 

 which have found their- way from Europe to America after the return of warmth. If it had been open 

 for the Leopard, it was also open for the Cave Lion and the Cave Hysena ; and their absence in 

 America is a strong presumjjtion against such a bridge being then open. We are thus driven to refer 

 the origin of these Leopards, in both hemispheres, to a fieriod antecedent to the glacial epoch. 

 Lund referred one or two of the bones found bj' him in the Caves of Brazil to the Jaguar. This 

 determination has been questioned, but if true, it would not affect the question, as the bone deposits 

 in these caves are of pliocene date, that is, post-glacial. 



