212 



" from what are only varieties of the same, should l>e carefully 

 " guarded against, it is objectionable that two distinct species 

 " should not be separated. Kindly address any letters on this 

 " subject to 



" LEOPARDUS NEGLECTUS, 



Coonoor." 



My friend " HAWKEYE," without whose notes my memoranda 

 would never have grown into a book, in one of his letters to the 

 South of India Observer, on the " Poachers of the Hills," thus 

 writes of the panther : 



OUR POACHERS. THE LEOPARD OR PANTHER. 



" I will not attempt to distinguish the one from the other, for I 



" am unable to do so ; naturalists tell us that there is no difficulty 



" in doing so, and that the distinctions are clearly denned ; all I 



" can say is, that I fail to see them. As in the tigers, so with the 



" leopards, there is much difference in size ; and with the latter, 



" this, no doubt, establishes a variety. But we also often meet with 



" tigers so different in structure, as almost to amount to a variety, 



" for some are short, heavily built, of massive power and weight, 



" and with tail rather short and thick ; all the proportions, however, 



" being admirable and handsome. Others again are long, lankey, 



" herring-gutted, long-tailed, ill-favored brutes. The difference is 



" supposed to be attributable to locality ; but this will scarcely hold 



" good, as both have been observed ranging over the same forests 



" and country. With the Leopard or Panther, however, size does 



" admit of, not only a distinction, but a variety, though I am unable 



" to trace it. I shall accordingly treat them as one, so far as their 



" poaching propensities are concerned on these hills. They are 



" very numerous all over the Neilgherries and on the slopes on the 



" ghauts ; at Billicul I was informed that in the course of three 



" years, no less than nine had been trapped there. They are very 



" destructive to cattle, sheep, &c., and are especially partial to dogs. 



" A very large one was caught in a trap at Sholoor, measuring 



" much about the usual length of a tigress ; it was a very handsome 



" and powerful brute. How many more have been taken in the 



< { same locality I am not informed, but numbers are trapped and 



