428 CAT TRIBE 



Another large -spotted race (F. p. sualielica], first described by 

 Mr. O. Neumann in the Zoologischer Jahrbucli Systemat. for 1900, 

 vol. xiii. p. 551, inhabits German East Africa, whence it apparently 

 extends into Uganda. A specimen living some time ago in the 

 Zoological Gardens at Berlin is figured on p. 1 80 of Dr. Heck's 

 Lebende Bilder aus dem Reiche der Tiere. The body-spots are in the 

 form of distinct rosettes, like those of an Indian leopard, but the 

 rosettes themselves may be more approximated, and appear to have 

 the centres less dark, and thus more like the general ground-colour. 

 No black dots occur in the centres of the rosettes. Such are, however, 

 found in a large-spotted leopard-skin from Uganda described by myself 

 in the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1907 (fig. 91). Another 

 leopard apparently belonging to the large -spotted group is F. p. 

 ruwenzorii, named in 1906 by Mr. L. Camerano in the Bolletino of 

 the Zoological Museum of Turin, vol. xxi. No. 545. Since, however, 

 the description is very brief, and there is no figure, it is impossible 

 to be certain that the Ruwenzori leopard belongs to the large- 

 spotted group. 



All these large-spotted leopards have an interest from the geo- 

 graphical point of view. The fauna of northern Africa has, as mentioned 

 earlier, a distinct affinity with that of Europe and western Asia. A 

 leopard akin to the race inhabiting the Caucasus and Persia is therefore 

 exactly the type that might be looked for in the northern districts of 

 the Red Sea littoral, while if the Atlas leopard be of the same general 

 type this would be also what we should expect. On the other hand, 

 since East Africa was at one time connected with India via the 

 Seychelles, it is here that we should naturally look for an approxima- 

 tion in the markings of the leopards to the Indian type. 



With the exception of the foregoing northern and eastern races, 

 all other African leopards appear to be of the small-spotted type, in 

 which the rosettes are small and closely approximated, and in the 

 region of the shoulders tend to break up more or less completely intc 

 irregularly distributed solid spots. Apparently only two of these have 

 received distinct names, namely, the West African F. pardus leopardus, 

 typically from Guinea, and the pigmy Somali race, F. p. nanopardus. 

 The former, in common apparently with West African leopards 

 generally, has the ground-colour of the under-parts in some instances 

 yellowish, and that of the back olive-tawny. On the other hand, in 

 the pigmy Somali leopard (which was described by Mr. O. Thomas 

 in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1904, sen 7, 

 vol. xiv. p. 94) the ground-colour is white below, passing gradually 



