THE LEOPARD. 



PLATE VII. F E L I S LEOPARD US. 



THE Leopard is one of the most blood-thirst}* and at the 

 same time, beautiful of the feline genus. Its predominant 

 color is a pale yellow, thickly interspersed with spots of 

 black, disposed in rings with great regularity on the sur- 

 face of its hide. Though occasionally found in some parts 

 of Asia, it is much more common in Africa ; and is to the 

 latter continent almost as destructive as the Tiger is to the 

 former. It seems, however, to have more respect, dictated 

 by fear, for the human species, and will seldom attack a 

 man unless provoked, or much pressed by hunger, but is 

 cruelly destructive to the inferior animal creation. 



It is now generally admitted that the Leopard is a vari- 

 ety of the Panther species, and they are pronounced the 

 same by the later naturalists. In times past, much differ- 

 ence of opinion has subsisted upon this subject, and some 

 of the brightest names in the lists of science may be 

 ranged in favor of the supposition that they are of differ- 

 ent species. The Panther is the larger of the two, and in 

 point of size ranks next to the Tiger, measuring about five 

 or six, and, in some instances, seven feet, from the nose to 

 the origin of the tail, and the tail itself nearly three feet. 

 The hair is short and smooth, and the general color fine 

 tawny yellow, thickly marked over the upper parts of the 

 body, shoulders and thighs, with roundish black spots, 

 disposed into circles, consisting of four o five spots, with 

 sometimes a single dot in the middle. On the face and legs 

 the spots are single. The breast and belly are white, the 

 former with dusky transverse stripes, the latter, and also 

 the tail, with large, irregular spots of black. The head 

 is moderate in length, the ears pointed, the eyes pale yel- 

 low, and its whole aspect fierce and cruel The Leopard 



