306 



THE STORY OF THE LEOPARD. 



backs, and striking playfully at each other, and every now and then uniting 

 in a general skirmishing chase over their limited domains. Even when they 

 are caged together with lions and tigers, their playfulness does not desert 

 them, and they treat their enormous companions with amusing coolness. 



The third in point of size of the Old World cats is the leopard, or 

 panther, a species closely allied to the lion and tiger, from whom it is at 

 once distinguished by its color marks and inferior dimensions. Two species 

 of large spotted cats are recognized as inhabiting Africa and India, tO' 



LEOPARDS IN THE JUNGLE. 



the smaller of which the name leopard is restricted, while the larger is 

 known as the panther. Although there is an enormous amount of differ- 

 ence between the smallest and the largest of such spotted cats in point of 

 size, yet I find that the change from the one to the other is so gradual 

 and complete that, in a large series of specimens, it is quite impossible to 

 say where leopards end and panthers begin. Hence it appears to me that 

 there is but a single species, for which the name leopard should be adopted. 

 The spotted coat of the leopard being its most distinctive feature, the 



