388 CARNIVORES. 



use, and it is accordingly preferable to call each of the two animals \>\ its English 

 title. The ground-colour of the fur of the leopard is subject to considerable 

 individual variation, but it is generally of a yellowish-fawn, with a more or less 

 marked rufous tinge, becoming gradually lighter on the flanks, and thus passing 

 into pure white on the under-parts. The spots, which are very variable in size 

 and number, take the form of rosettes, and consist, on the upper -parts, of an 

 irregular black ring (nearly always inconi2:)lete), enclosing a briglit central area, 

 which may be of the same tint as the general ground-colour, but is not unfrequently 

 darker. On tiie head, lower portions of the limbs, and flanks (where they are 

 brownish), the spots have no light centres, and are smaller. The tail, of which the 

 length may vary from rather more than one-half to about three-quai-tere that of 

 the head and body, is likewise spotted throughout the greater part of its length ; 

 but at and near the tip the spots become larger and fewer, and tend to form more 

 or less nearly complete rings. Leopard cubs do not have the coloure so well 

 defined or so brilliant as in the adult animal. The hair on the head and body is 

 generally short and close, but tends to become longer when the animal inhabits 

 colder regions than usual, and tiiat on the tail and under-parts is always longer 

 than the rest. From this normal coloration an almost complete transition can be 

 observed to black leopards, which were at one time regarded as belonging to a 

 distinct species. Perfectly black leopards have been only found hitlierto in Asia, 

 and appear to be more common in the hills of Southern India, and the llalaj^ 

 Peninsula and islands, than elsewhere. The .skin of such black specimens, when 

 viewed in certain lights, invariably exhibits a kind of '■ watered-silk " apjiearance, 

 due to the presence of the spots, in which the hair has a still deeper tinge of black 

 than elsewhere. That such black leopards are nothing more than Aarieties is 

 proved by instances where a female of the ordinarj- colour has given birth to a 

 litter, among which was a black cub. One such instance is recorded by 

 Mr. G. P. Sanderson as having taken place at the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, 

 where a female gave birth to one spotted and one black cub. 



Although no perfectly black leopards have ever been founil in Africa, yet 

 there occui-s in the southern portion of that country a rare variety which exliibits 

 a more or less strongly marked tendency towards blackness. One such specimen 

 was described in 1885 by Dr. Giinther, wliich was obtained in hilly land covered 

 with scrub-jungle, near Grahamstown. Tlie ground-colour of this animal was a 

 rich tawny, with an orange tinge : but the spots, instead of being of the usual 

 ro.sette-like form, were nearly all small and .solid, like thase on the head of an 

 orchnary leopard ; while from the top of the head to near the root of the tail the 

 spots become almost confluent, producing the appearance of a broad streak of black 

 running down the back. A second skin, figured by the same writer in the following 

 year, had the black area endDracing nearly the whole of the back and flanks, 

 without showing any trace of the spots, while, in those portions of the skin where 

 the latter remained, they were of the same form as in the first specimen. Two 

 other specimens are known; the whole four having been obtained from the 

 Albany district. It will thus be apparent that these dark-coloured African leopards 

 difler from the black leopards of Asia, in that while in the latter the rosette- 

 like spots are always retained, and are always visible, in the former the rosettes 



