18: 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. 1.— A HYBRID BETWEEN A LION AND A PANTHER. 



So far as I am aware there is no published description of a hybrid lion 

 and leopard. I am greatly indebted, therefore, to Mr. W. S. Millard, the 

 Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History, for sending me a skin 

 of a specimen, which, according to the testimony of Col. F. W. Wodehouse, 

 was bred in the gardens at Kolhapur between a male panther, ?".^., a large 

 leopard and a lioness. There were two cubs in the litter. One, whose 

 skin is here figured, died when about two and a half months old, whereas 

 the other, now about two years old is, I believe, still living. 



At first sight this skin recalls that of a leopard in being covered with 

 spots ; but those on the sides of the body are much smaller and closer set 

 than in typical Indian leopards, and also browner and altogether less dis- 

 tinct, as if beginning to disappear with age, as is the case with lions. On 

 the head, down the spine, on the belly and the legs, they are however quite 

 black and distinct. The tail is very confusedly spotted above, but striped 

 below, and has a blackish tip covered with longer hairs. Another leonine 

 feature is the dirty white — rather than clear white — tint of the underside, 

 while the ears are fawn with a broad, black bar, but are without the white 

 spot seen in leopards. 



