244 DU. GtFNTUER ON A VARIETY OF FELIS LEOPARDUS. [Mar. 3, 



the same district, and is at present preserved in the Museum of 

 Grahamstown ' ; tliat the ordinary kind of Leopard is common in the 

 locahty, tliat the Cheetah is very scarce, and that the Lion has been 

 entirely exterminated for a considerable period. 



The points in which the skin differs from the ordinary type are 

 the following : — 



The ground-colour is tawny with a rich orange gloss about the 

 shoulders. Of the rosettes only a few indications are preserved, 

 namely on the haunches, where two are visible on the right side, 

 whilst they form an irregular confluent pattern on the left. Remains 

 of rosettes are also visible, one on each shoulder close to the verticelli 

 of hairs which are usually developed in this place in the Leopard, 

 Lion, &c. Two pairs of similar rudimentary rosettes succeed these 

 at intervals of about 10 inches. The remainder of the rosettes are 

 broken up into, or replaced by, innumerable small separate spots, 

 which are most distinct in and behind the region of the shoulder, 

 and on the outer sides of the legs. They are more diffuse on the 

 flanks, where they mix with the ground-colour, producing a brownish 

 tinge. Finally on the back, from the forehead to the sacral region, 

 they are move or less confluent, so that the whole of the back 

 appears to be of black colour, which is most intense above the lumbar 

 region. A few black spots on the upper lip, a conspicuous black 

 spot above each eye surrounded by a light yellowish ring, and a large 

 black spot on the back of the ear are present as in Leopards with 

 typical coloration. On the other hand, the tail differs in a remark- 

 able manner, it being fulvous for its first two thirds, which colour 

 gradually changes into pale grey ; the whole tail is sprinkled with 

 numerous very small and clearly defined spots, the extreme tip being 

 black. Chin, chest, belly, and inside of the legs white with large 

 black spots as in the ordinary Leopard. Whiskers and claws white, 

 hair between the foot-pads black. The hairs are of about the 

 ordinary length, with a very thick underfur on the sides of the 

 body. 



The measurements of the flat skin are as follows : — Head and 

 body 4 feet 1 inch, tail 2 feet 6 inches ; distance of central line of 

 back from the fore toes 2 feet 6 inches. 



In endeavouring to throw some light on this extraordinary 

 deviation from the ordinary type, we are almost entirely limited to 

 the evidence to be gleaned from the specimen before us. The 

 possibility of its being a hybrid between the Leopard and one of the 

 other large feline animals of South Africa is to be considered. 

 There is a very evident mixture of two patterns of coloration, viz. of 

 that in which the ornamental colour appears in the form of rosettes, 

 and that of simple black spots as in the Cheetah. Yet the whole 

 build of the animal and the structure of the typically feline claws 

 prevent us from assuming that the Cheetah might be one of the 

 parents. It would be more within the bounds of possibility that our 

 specimen is the offspring of a Leopard with a Lioness which had 



^ This is evidently the same specimen which was described by Mr. Tvimen 

 in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 535. 



