1874.] AND LEOPARDS OF CHINA. 147 



skull of the long-haired Mantchurian Tiger, and the other that of 

 the form inhabiting the southern parts of the empire. 



He has also procured skulls of the Leopards met with in the 

 corresponding countries, and has been good enough to place the 

 collection in my hands for comparison, and in order that the Society 

 may have an opportunity of viewing them. 



1 . Skulls of Felis tigris. 



One of these, upon which the soft parts in a dried state still 

 remain so as somewhat to interfere with the examination, but not 

 materially, is from Fychoo, 120 miles inland from Ningpo in the 

 south of China ; and the other, that of a Mantchurian Tiger, from 

 Kirin, in the north of the empire. The latter was taken out of a 

 long-haired skin, procured by the Governor of the port of New- 

 chwang ; so that, as Mr. Swinhoe states, there can be no doubt of its 

 genuineness. 



That from Fychoo belonged to a short-haired animal undistin- 

 guishable, in Mr. Swinhoe's opinion, from the Bengal Tiger. 



He also states that the long-haired variety is so far adapted to a 

 cold climate that in the winter it is observed to live in burrows under 

 the snow. 



The closest comparison I have been able to make between these 

 two externally distinct varieties fails to indicate any thing approaching 

 a specific distinction between them ; nor, again, do they appear in 

 any respect to differ, so far as the cranial and dental characters are 

 concerned, from the Indian species. 



2. Skulls of Felis leopardus. 



The same may be said of the two Leopard skulls submitted to my 

 inspection by Mr. Swinhoe. 



One of these skulls is that of the species (or of a species) inhabiting 

 the mountains near Ningpo, and regarded by Mr. Swinhoe as iden- 

 tical in every respect with the Indian Leopard ; whilst the other 

 was procured at the port of Newchwang from a native of the country. 

 The latter, Mr. Swinhoe remarked to me, might probably be the Felis 

 fontanieri of M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards* ; but this is perhaps an 

 erroneous impression. However this may be, in the cranial and 

 dental characters at all events there is no appreciable distinction 

 between the northern and southern forms brought by Mr. Swinhoe ; 

 and as further comparison of these skulls with that of the Indian 

 Leopard only serves fully to confirm Mr. Swinhoe's opinion as to 

 their identity with Felis leopardus of India, we are compelled to the 

 conclusion that that species inhabits both the northern and southern 

 parts of China, and is, like the Tiger, capable, with some modification 



* Ann. des Sc. Nat. 5 me eer. torn, viii., and ' Eecherches pour servir a l'liis- 

 toire naturelle des Mammiferes,' p. 208, 1872. 



10* 



