LEOPARDS, PANTHERS, ETC. 183 



impossible to establish any characters which mark the 

 difference between them. Size, colour, form, and posi- 

 tion of spots have been resorted to, but age and locality 

 have set all rules aside ; and therefore, in treating of 

 them, I shall use the term indiscriminately. Their 

 extreme beauty and their greater docility make them 

 more interesting than the tiger ; nevertheless they, like 

 others of the feline tribe, should not be treated too un- 

 reservedly. Their internal anatomy and dentition agree 

 with those of the tiger, but they are of smaller and 

 slighter make, are natives of the East, but particularly 

 abundant in most parts of Africa. They are exceed- 

 ingly active and graceful ; swim, climb trees, or slide 

 along the ground like a snake, and are very apt to spring 

 upon their victims from the branches of trees. Their 

 coat is of that beautiful shade of tawny which forms 

 so good a contrast with their black rosettes or spots. 



My first personal acquaintance with leopards and 

 panthers was made on the leeward coast of Africa ; and 

 one of the latter, brought by Mr. Bowdich and myself 

 in a living state to this country, at first delighted the 

 men of science, because in his remarkably beautiful 

 coat they hoped to find characters which would mark 

 the difference between these two animals ; but as we 

 produced skin after skin, they began again to doubt, 

 and the problem still remains unsolved. My history 

 of the Ashanti panther has been so often repeated iu 

 various works, that I should hesitate to introduce it 

 here, had it not more than once been presented to the 

 public in a form which did not originate with myself. 

 The only other account from my own pen was supplied 

 to Mr. Loudon for his Magazine of Natural History, to 

 which I now make a few additions. 



