THE HUNTING-LEOPARD. 201 



remarked, has little of the sleekness which characte- 

 rizes those animals, but exhibits, on the contrary, a 

 peculiar crispiness, which is not to be found in any 

 other of the tribe. 



" His groundcolour is a bright yellowish fawn above, 

 and nearly pure white beneath, covered above and 

 on the sides by innumerable closely approximating 

 spots, from half an inch to an inch in diameter, which 

 are intensely black, and do not, as in the leopard and 

 other spotted cats, form roses with a lighter centre, 

 but are full and complete. These spots, which are 

 wanting on the chest and under part of the body, 

 are larger on the back than on the head, sides, and 

 limbs, where the* are more closely set ; they are 

 also spread along the tail, forming on the greater 

 part of its extent, interrupted rings, which, however, 

 become continuous as they approach its extremity, 

 the three or four last rings surrounding it completely. 

 The tip of the tail is white, as is also the whole of 

 its under surface, with the exception of the rings 

 just mentioned ; it is equally covered with long hair 

 throughout its entire length, which is more than half 

 that of the body. The outside of the ears, which 

 are short and rounded, is marked by a broad black 

 spot at the base ; the tip, as also the inside, being 

 whitish. The upper part of his head is of a deeper 

 tinge ; and he has a strongly marked flexuous black 

 line, of about half an inch in length, extending from 

 the inner angle of the eye to the angle of the 

 mouth. The extremity of the nose is black, like 



