1899.] ON THE LEOPARD OP THE 0AtT0A8U8. 795 



!N'yasa. The female has been mounted, aud agrees geuerally w ith 

 the description of the type. Thus, contrasted with a typical 

 female Puku, it is of smaller size, with the crown of the head 

 blackish, more black on the ears, and the general colour of a deeper 

 red. There are, however, whitish rings on the fetlocks, which are 

 stated to be absent in the type. The male apparently differs from 

 the typical Puku chietiy in its smaller dimensions, the head and 

 ears not showing an increase of black. 



As Barotse-land is not very far from the upper Loangwe valley, 

 there is no reason why the same form of Antelope should not 

 inhabit both localities ; and I cannot regard the above-mentioned 

 difference in respect to the light rings on the fetlocks as of more 

 than individual or local importance. In all characters the animal 

 is essentially a Puku, of which I regard it merely as a subspecies, 

 and accordingly prefer to call it the Senga Puku, C. vardoni 

 senganus, instead of 0. senganus. 



6. On the Leopard of the Caucasus. By R. Lydekker. 



[Eeceived June 5, 1899.] 

 (Plate LIV.) 



In his recently published work entitled ' Hunting Trips in the 

 Caucasus,' Prince Demidoif states that the Snow-Leopard {Felis 

 uncia) occurs in the Caucasus ; and he figures (p. 85) an animal 

 which is undoubtedly that species. I am informed, however, that 

 the specimen from which that figure was taken is not of Caucasian 

 origin. And as I find that Dr. Satunin^ especially denies the 

 occurrence of the Snow-Leopard in the Caucasus, I have endeavoured 

 to make out what auimal had been mistaken for it. 



Dr. Satunin records the occurrence of the ordinary Leopard in the 

 range, but without stating whether Caucasian examples differ from 

 ordinaiy Indian Leopards on the one hand or i'rom African Leopards 

 on the other. But since the so-called Felis tuUicuia of Valenciennes 

 occurs in Asia Minor - and also in Persia ^, and bearing in mind 

 the approximation to the Ounce exhibited by that variety of the 

 Leopard, nothing would seem more likely than it should also be 

 found in the Caucasus. 



In confirmation of this view, I have recently received through 

 the good offices of Messrs. Eowland Ward, Ltd., a Leopard-skin 

 from the Caucasus belonging to Prince Demidoff. 



Compared with an ordinary Indian Leopard this skin (Plate LIV.) 

 is at once distinguishable by the irregular formation and small size 

 of the rosettes, in which the centres are not appreciably darker 



1 Zool. Jahrb., Syst. ix. p. 290 (1896). 



2 See Danford and Alston, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 51. 



^ See Blanford, ' Fauna of Bi'itish India,' Mamm. p. 69 (1888) ; the so-called 

 Ounce skins referred to by the same author in his ' Eastern Persia,' -vol. ii. 

 p. 35 (1875), also doubtless belong to the form described as F. talliaim. 



