EAST INDIAN LEOPARD. 27 



Leopard-skins are used for saddle-clothes for the 

 officers and bandsmen of the Hussars and other cavalry 

 regiments. Sometimes the skins are also made into 

 rugs, foot-muffs, wrappers, slippers, and drummers' 

 aprons. Some are also bought for theatrical purposes. 



Four thousand and fifty-one Leopards were killed in 

 British India in 1886. 



The Indian Government pay a royalty on every 

 animal taken ; the skins are marked by their agents, 

 either by cutting a circular or triangular piece out of the 

 skins at the head or root of the tail, or sometimes by 

 merely giving a cut at the base of the tail. 



The claws are occasionally used as scarf-pins. 



A few thousand skins are imported into London 

 annually ; the prices fluctuating a great deal according 

 to demand and supply : 12s. to 52s. are the extreme 

 prices for a good large skin. 



Many skins are brought over by private people. 



The value of a live Leopard is about <20, and of a 

 Black Leopard 150. 



AFEICAN LEOPAED. 

 Felis Par dm. 



The African Leopard has much darker and more 

 numerous spots than the East Indian. The general 

 colour is, however, paler, or almost white, thus giving 

 it a very handsome appearance. 



It is smaller than the East Indian animal. 



It is fairly numerous on the Gold Coast, but here the 

 natives have a habit of cutting off the legs of the 



