FELID^E. 



FELID^E. 



778 



13 inches. Size about equal to that of the common wild-cat of 

 Europe ; but the Pampas-Cat is stouter, its head smaller, and its tail 

 shorter. (Waterhouse.) 



Mr. Waterhouse (' Zoology of the Beagle ') observes that the mark- 

 ings of this animal vary slightly in intensity : those on the body, he 

 remarks, are generally indistinct ; but the black rings on the legs are 

 always very conspicuous. 



D'Azara says that he knows not, nor has he heard, that this species 

 exists in Paraguay, although it formerly may have been seen there ; 

 but as the country became tolerably well peopled, and there were 

 fewer plains, the inhabitants probably extirpated it. He caught four 

 in the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, between 35 and 36 S. lat., and three 

 others on the Kio Negro. He says they are found on both sides 

 of the La Plata. 



Darwin (' Zoology of the Beagle') gives as its habitat Santa Cruz, 

 Patagonia, and Bahia Bianca. He states that it is common over the 

 whole of the great plains which compose the eastern side of the 

 southern part of America ; and he says he has reason to believe, 

 from the accounts he received, that it is found near the Strait of 

 Magellan, which would give it a range of nearly 1400 miles hi a north 

 and south direction, D'Azara having stated that it extends northward 

 aa far as 30 S. lat One of Mr. Darwin's specimens was obtained in 

 50 S. lat., at Santa Cruz. 



D'Azara says that the natives call this animal Qato Pajero, because 

 it lives on the plains, concealing itself in jungles, without entering 

 into the woods and thickets. Guinea-Pigs (Aperea), according to 

 him, form its principal food. Mr. Darwin states that it takes its 

 name from 'paja,' the Spanish word for straw, from its habit of 

 frequenting reeds. The specimen taken by him at Santa Cruz was 

 met with in a valley where thickets were growing. When disturbed 

 it did not run away, but drew itself up and hissed. 



III. LEOPARDS. 



The larger Spotted Cats are known by this name. They are found 

 in both the Old and New Worlds. 



The form seems to have its most perfect development in the 

 ancient continent and the islands of the Old World, though it 

 must be admitted that the American Jaguar, in point of size, 

 strength, and sturdinens of make, excels the Leopards of Asia and 

 Africa. 



Petit Pardut (the Panther) of Linnaeus first claims our notice. It 

 has been a question whether the Leopard and Panther are distinct 

 species, or only varieties. Linnieus, in his last edition of the ' Systema 

 Naturae,' included under the specific name of Petit Pardui the 

 Panthera, Pardalit, Pardui, and Leopardua of Gesner ; Pardut mas., 

 Panthera femina of Alpin (Egypt) ; Pardatiiof Ray; Tigrit M ej^cana 

 of Hernandez ; and Pinuum Datyput, Nieremb., ' Nat.' Under the 

 specific name of Onca he includes Purdtu, seu Lynx Brarilientit of Ray, 

 ami the Jaguara of Marcgrave. He has no species named Leopardua ; 

 but Gmelin has, and in his edition we find the following species : 1. 

 /'. pardut F. cauda elougata, corpora maculia guperioribus orbicu- 

 latia ; inferioribus virgatis (the description of Linnaeus) Schreb., 

 ' SUugethiere,' iii. p. 384, t. xcix., with the following references and 

 synonyms : Felit ex albo flavicaus, rnaculis nigris in dorso orbiculatis, 

 in veutre longis, Bliss. ' Quadr.' ; the names of Gesner and Ray as 

 quoted above ; Pardut maoulis seu scutulis variis, Ludolf, -Etkiop. ; 

 Panthcre of Buffon. 2. P. Unica, Once, Buffon. 3. F. Leopardut 

 P. cauda mediocri, corpore fusco maculis subcoadunatis uigris. Erxl., 

 ' Syst. .Miuiiiii.,' p. 509. n. 5 ; Schreb., ' Saugeth.,' iii. p. 387, t. ci. ; 

 Vncia, Caj., ' Op.,' p. 42, Gesn., ' Quadr.,' p. 825 ; Leopard of Buffon. 

 4. F. Onfa, the Jaguar. 



Cuvier separates the Panther from the Leopard specifically. The 

 Panther, La Panthere, he makes the Petit Pardut of Linnaeus, 

 and the Pardalit, ri nopSoXii of the ancients. lie describes the 

 Panther as yellow above, white beneath, with six or seven rows of 

 black spots in the form of roses, that is to say, formed by an 

 assemblage of five or six small simple spots on each side ; the tail of 

 the length of the body not reckoning the head. This species he 

 speaks of as being spread throughout Africa and in the warm 

 countries of Asia, as well as in the Indian Archipelago ; and he states 

 that he has seen individuals where the ground-colour of the fur is 

 black, with spots of a still deeper black (Petit melat, Per.), but that 

 they do not form a species, observing that both yellow and black 

 eubs have been seen sucking the same mother (1829). Pennant 

 ('Hist. Quadr.,' 1793) figures a Black Leopard, and describes the 

 variety as follows : " In the Tower of London is a black variety, 

 brought from Bengal by Warren Hastings, Esq. The colour 

 universally is a dusky black, sprinkled over with spots of a glossy 

 black, disposed in the same forms as those of the Leopard. On 

 turning aside the hair, beneath appears a tinge of the natural 

 colour." 



Ftlit Leopardui (the Leopard) of Linnaeus, as he quotes it (but it 

 is not mentioned by Linnaeus in his last edition of the ' Syst. Nat. ; ' 

 it appears, as we have seen, in Gmelin's edition), Cuvier assigns to 

 Africa, remarking that it U similar to the Panther, but with ten rows 

 of smaller spots. These two species, he adds, are smaller than the 

 Jaguar; nnd he says that there is a third, a little lower on the 

 legs, -with the tail equalling the body and head in length, and 



with more numerous and smaller spots (Felis chalybeata, Herm. 

 Schreb., 101). 



Cuvier does not notice the Panther, 6 Hav/hip of Aristotle (' Hist. 

 Auiiu.,' vi. 35), and indeed this animal is supposed by many not to have 

 been one of the Leopard kind. In a note to Felis chalybeata, Cuvier 

 states that it is to that species M. Temminck applies the name of 

 Panther ; but the former adds it is certain that the Panther so well 

 kuown to the ancients, and which appeared so often in the Roman 

 shows and games, could not be an animal from the recesses (' fond ') 

 of Eastern Asia. 



Cuvier does not insert in the text of his 'Regne Animal' the 

 Ounce of Buffon ; but in a note to the second edition he speaks of it 

 as differing from the Panthers and the Leopards by more unequal 

 spots, more irregularly scattered, partly notched or ringed, &c., and 

 as appearing to be found in Persia ; adding that his knowledge of it is 

 only derived from Buffon's figure, and from that which Mr. Hamilton 

 Smith has inserted in the English translation of the ' Regne Animal ' 

 from an individual which had been seen living in London. 



The Panther and the Leopard were once regarded by M. Temminck 

 as varieties of the same species, F. Leopardus, but he has separated 

 them specifically in his ' Monograph.' 



Colonel Smith's Ounce was detected by him in the Tower when 

 that fortress included a menagerie among its attractions. The animal 

 is said to have been brought from the Gulf of Persia, but we only 

 learn that it was very distinct from all other species in make, 

 markings, and general appearance. 



The same author describes the Panther of the ancients as standing 

 higher than the Jaguar, and as approaching in its form, which is 

 slender, to that of the Hunting Leopard (P. jubata), though much 

 larger in proportion. 



M. Lesson enumerates the following Leopards as belonging to the 

 old continent : 



P. Panthdre, P. Pardus, Linn., Temm., 'Monog.' Less than, the 

 Leopard ; tail as long as the body and head. Locality, Bengal ; and 

 probably does not exist in Africa. 



P. Leopard, F. Leopardta, Linn. (Gmel.), Temm. ; P. Pardus, Cuv. ; 

 Faahd of the Arabs. Rather less than a lioness. Tail (22 vertebra:) 

 of the length of the body. Locality, Africa and India. 



P. jubata, the Cheetah, or Hunting Leopard. Locality, Southern 

 Asia. 



Among those Felidce which are distributed in the Polynesian group 

 of islands (lies Asiatiques de la Polynesia) M. Lesson notices 



P. melat, PeVon, observing that this animal, which M. Temminck 

 believed to be a variety of the Leopard, constitutes, on the contrary, 

 a species entirely confined to Java, and especially in the most isolated 

 eastern districts, such as Blambangan ( Krambanan ?). The size of 

 the animal he states to be that of the Panther ; its fur of a deep 

 black, on which are traced zones of the same colour, but less lustrous. 

 This leopard, which is called Arimaou by the Javanese, is used for 

 the singular combats of the ' Rampok,' for the details of which 

 M. Lesson refers to the ' Zool. de la Coquille,' t. i. p. 139. He adds 

 that he saw a beautiful specimen belonging to the resident of Soura- 

 baya, and he was assured that /'. melat was not rare in the island. 

 He also refers to P. macrocelis, Horsfield. Localities, Sumatra and 

 Borneo. (1827.) 



Mr. Bennett (' Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society," 

 1830) says, " Whether the Leopard and the Panther are in reality 

 distinct species, and if so on what particular characters the specific 

 distinction depends, are questions that have been so variously solved 

 by writers of the highest eminence that we cannot, without better 

 opportunities for comparison of specimens than we at present possess, 

 adopt the conclusions to which any one of them has come upon the 

 subject. Linnaeus, not perceiving any sufficient grounds of distinction, 

 referred both names to one and the same animal ; Buffon added a 

 third, that of the Ounce, and increased the confusion by describing 

 as the Panther of the ancients and an animal of the old continent 

 the Jaguar, which is now known to be peculiar to the new continent; 

 Cuvier subsequently founded a distinction upon the greater or smaller 

 number of rows of spots disposed along the sides of the body ; and 

 Temminck, rejecting these characters as unimportant, has lately fixed 

 upon the comparative length of the tail as affording the only sure 

 means of discrimination. In this uncertainty the question remains 

 for the present ; but there can be no doubt of the complete distinction 

 between both the animals involved in it and that which we have 

 figured, the mistaken Panther of Buffon, the Jaguar of Brazil, and 

 Petit Onfa of systematic writers. It may not however be useless to 

 observe, that of the figures given by Butfon as Panthers and Jaguars 

 that which is entitled the male Panther is in all probability a Leopard ; 

 the female is unquestionably a Jaguar; the Jaguars of the original 

 work, and of the supplement, are either Ocelots or Chatis ; and that 

 which purports to be the Jaguar or Leopard, although probably 

 intended for a Cheetah, is not clearly referrible by its form and 

 markings to any known species." 



Mr. Swainson, in his ' Classification of Quadrupeds ' (1835), leaves 

 the question untouched. In his ' Animals in Menageries ' (1838) he 

 gives the following species : - 



The Leopard; Leopard, Cuvier; P. Leopardua, H. Smith, in Griffi, 

 Cuvier. 



