234 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



No. X.— NOTE ON TWO BLACK LEOPARDS IN THE KOLHAPUR 



COLLECTION. 



The leopards are male and female and are no longer young. 



Their measurements are, as near as I can judge by measuring the bars of the 

 cage against which they leant, 



Male, length 6 feet, height at shoulder 2ft. 2 inches. 

 Female, „ 5 „ „ „ „ 1 „ 8 „ 



Their colour is an uniform black, hut in the sunlight a faint trace of spots is 

 visible on the sides, and lower down on the belly the hair appears of a deep 

 brown and the spots are more apparent ; they are not, however, five-finger- 

 tipped or circular broken rosettes but entirely black blotches without an- 

 nulation. The tongues are of that brilliant pink that one associates with the 

 mouth of a nigger minstrel, the palate of the male is also quite pink, but on 

 that of the female there are two small black spots, one lg in x 1 in. and the 

 other ^ in. x i in. Under the tongue both are blackish, the female more so 

 than the male ; the gums above and below the front teeth and in which they 

 are set, are black. The eyes are the same as those of the ordinary leopard. 



This pair has been 3| years in captivity in Kolhapur and have bred together 

 thrice, two cubs resulting on each of the first two occasions and one on the 

 third. All these 5 cubs were entirely black like the parents. The female is 

 now again in cub to the male. 



The male was 2^ years ago put to a female of the ordinary red spotted species 

 (Felispardus typica), one cub was the issue, and he is now a full grown well 

 developed male nigh on 7 feet long ; he is neither ordinary coloured nor black 

 but a mixture, the markings on him being much larger and of a more vivid 

 black than that of its mother ; there are no five-finger spots though there are 

 rosettes but the greater number of the spots are very large and solid black. It is 

 an extremely handsome animal and noticeable. Its tongue, palate, &c, are pink. 



I am inclined, for the above reasons, to think that these black leopards are 

 a distinct species ; the man who sold them to H. H. the Maharaja said they 

 came from Northern China, where all were of this kind. Those shot in Kanara 

 appear to be " sports, " for I am told that in the case of one shot at Supa by 

 Captain Brewis it was noticed to have a black tongue. This male was 

 evidently the father of the black cub she t a few days later by Mr. Marjoribanks 

 at the same place and was found to be at the foot of an ordinary coloured 

 female leopard. There is no trace of the female's colour in the cro&s now at 

 Kolhapur. The Kanara black leopards would, therefore, appear to be true 

 cases of melanism. Mr. Rowland Ward observes that black leopards are 

 not entitled to be regarded as a distinct race, being only specially coloured 

 individuals, but as the pair in Kolhapur have on every occasion bred purely 

 black cubs with no throw back to the original yellow, and as, moreover, the 

 progeny of the black male with a yellow female bore special markings bearing 

 indications of its mixed parentage, it seems worthy of consideration whether 

 after all they are not a distinct race. 



