LEOPARD. 



389 



are lost (as, indeed, is to a considerable extent often the case with ordinary' African 

 leopards), and all trace of spots disappears from the blacker portions of the skin. 

 It is, however, iiotewoi-thy that in both countries these leopards are found in hilly 

 regions, more or less tlaickly covered with jungle, from which it would seem that 

 such districts are in some way connected with tlie abnormal development of 

 dark colour. Far rarer than black leopards, are white ones, and but very few have 



BLACK LEOPARD (^ nat. size). 



been met with. In addition to these black and white varieties of the leopard, 

 there are minor variations noticeable in the skins of specimens from ditierent 

 places. In the first place, as Mr. Blanford observes, African leopards always 

 have smaller and more solid spots than the Indian animal, so that the sknis of 

 the two can be distinguished at a glance. Then there is a race of Persian leopards, 

 also found in Baluchistan and Sind, in which the fur is longer, and the tail 

 thicker than ordinary ; while the coloration is intermediate between that of the 

 ordinary leopard and the ounce. Further, according to the author just men- 

 tioned, the leopards from Peninsular India have less richly-coloured skins than 



