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, ^yrappers, slippers, and drummers' 

 aprons. Some are also bought for theatrical purposes. 



Four thousand and fifty-one Leopards were killed in 

 British Lidia in 1886. 



The Indian Government pay a roj^alty 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 LEOPAKD. 



FcUs Pardiis. 



The African Leopard has much darker and more 

 numerous spots than the East Lidian. 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 



