42 NATURAL SIS TOST. 



covered over the greater part of its length with annular spots. On the hinder part of the ears is 



a clear spot." 



It must not be supposed, however, that all Leopards have exactly the kind of marking here 

 described, for it varies according to habitat, age, sex, and season. Still, the skin-markings are defi- 

 nite enough to enable one to tell the true Leopard, either from the Hunting Leopard (Cheetah), 

 the Jaguar, or the Clouded Tiger, the only animals with which there is any possibility of con- 

 founding it. 



In size the Leopard is decidedly inferior to either the Lion or Tiger ; being not more than 

 some seven feet six inches from snout to tip of tail, and two feet seven inches high at the shoulder. 

 The tail itself is about three feet eight inches long. The female is somewhat smaller than the 

 male, to which the above measurements apply. The whiskers are strong and white, and the eyes 

 yellow. 



The head-quarters of the Leopard are the African continent, where its range is almost co- 

 extensive with the Lion's, as it occurs from Algeria in the north to Cape Colony in the south. 

 In the latter locality it is known by the settlers as the Tiger, but this is quite a misnomer. The 

 Tiger of the Cape colonists is a spotted, not a striped Cat, and is indeed nothing but the African 

 variety of the Panther. Like the Lion, the Leopard extends into Asia, penetrating, however, much 

 farther into that continent than the king of beasts. In the western parts of Asia it occurs, amongst 

 other places, in Palestine, where " it is found all round the Dead Sea, in Gilead, and Bashan, and 

 occasionally in the few wooded districts in the West." Leopards are found in Ceylon, where they 

 are the only great Carnivores, but where they are neither very numerous nor very dangerous, as they 

 seldom attack man. By the Europeans the Ceylon Leopard is erroneously called a Cheetah, but the 

 true "Cheetah" (Felts jubata), the Hunting Leopard of India, does not exist in the island. 



The Leopard is found at its extreme easterly range in Japan, where it occurs under a distinct 

 variety, known as the " Northern Leopard," the skin of which is " much like that of a fine-coloured 

 Hunting Leopard, but it is at once distinguished by the comparatively shorter legs, by the larger size 

 and brown centre of the black spots, and from all the varieties of the Leopard by the linear spots on 

 the nape and the spots on the back not being formed of roses or groups of spots. The skin in its 

 tanned state is four feet* six inches, and the tail two feet ten inches long." 



Another variety from Formosa is distinguished by the shortness of its tail, which is not more 

 than a foot and three-quarters long, or about half the length of that of its African brother. Some 

 naturalists propose to consider both these varieties as distinct species, but such characters as the length 

 of the tail and the form and disposition of the spots are eminently vai-iable, and when we consider 

 that another Leopard from Formosa has been described with a tail one foot one inch long, and 

 another whose caudal appendage was two feet seven inches in length, we shall certainly be justified 

 in concluding that such slight difference must have been produced by the innate tendency of all 

 animals to vary in unimportant particulars, and by the influence of surrounding conditions, and we 

 may safely put all these various kinds of Leopard under the common label Felis pardus. 



There is, however, one very interesting character about the " Northern Leopard" which, although 

 by no means entitling it to rank as a species, yet makes it a very instructing instance of the way 

 in which a breed or race is produced by the modifying influence of climate. The animal in question 

 is found not only in Japan, but in Mantchuria, " extending probably to Corea, and the Island of 

 Saghalien," and is remarkable from the fact that its hair is long and shaggy, a condition of things 

 evidently brought about by the cold climate it has to endure. Hence we see that the British climate 

 need not have differed from its present condition to have been the home, as indeed it once was, of the 

 larger beasts of prey. 



Perhaps the most interesting variety of this species is the Black Leopard of Java. It has 

 exactly the appearance of an ordinary Leopard painted black, the paint, however, not being laid on 

 sufficiently thick to hide the spots, which are of a more intense black than the rest of the hide. 

 The Black Leopard is sometimes described as a distinct species, and is called Leopardus melas, but 

 there can be very little doubt that it is, in real'ity, a mere variety, differing only in colour the most 

 variable of characters from the common kind. It is, however, so singular as to require the special 

 notice which we have given it. 



