1909. ] SKULLS OF LEOPARDS. 209 
its normal-sized congener coming from Somaliland, furnishes the 
most striking instance known of a larger and smaller form 
occurring in the same country. 
In the subjoined table I have placed side by side for comparison 
measurements in English inches* of eight skulls of African 
Leopards and of one Indian example, namely, the above mentioned 
one from Mhow. Nos. 1-4 are the four examples from Cette 
Cama lent to me by Mr. Gerrard. No.5 is Mr. Melland’s Luangwe 
River small-spotted specimen. No.6 is an example in the British 
Museum sent from the French Congo by Mr. G. L. Bates. 
Although smaller than the large Cette Cama skulls, this presents 
the same general features and has the mesopter yeoid fossa narrow, 
with nearly parallel edges. No. 7 isa specimen from Fort Man- 
ning in Nyasaland, in yee British Museum. Although considerably 
smaller than No. 3 of the Cette Cama series and larger than the 
Luangwe River example, this skull has the mesopterygoid fossa 
of the same actual width. The skull of another Leopard from 
Zomba in Nyasaland, however, has the mesopterygoid fossa broad, 
namely + of an inch, that is to say very nearly as broad as in the 
considerably larger iiactiewn example from Mhow. It will be seen 
therefore that the marked distinction in width and shape of the 
mesopterygoid fossa between Indian and West African Leopards 
breaks down in East and South African specimens, as is attested 
by the skull from Zomba, the one from Fort Manning, and also 
one from Cape Colony in the British Museum. The fossa in 
question is wide in all the Asiatic Leopards’ skulls that I have 
seen, including specimens from India, North China (7. pardus 
fontanieri), Hong Kong, and of the Black variety from Malacca. 
It is also broad in the skulls of Jaguars (/. onca) and points to 
closer relationship, also borne out by the pattern, between Jaguars 
and Asiatic Leopards than between Jaguars and West African 
Leopards, a conclusion to be expected from geographical dis- 
tribution. On the other hand, the anterior border of the fossa is 
at all events as a rule produced backwards into a sharply pointed 
angle in Asiatic Leopards, whereas in African Leopards it is 
generally at least markedly straighter, sometimes indeed slightly 
notched, and in Jaguars this edge is usually notched, as it is also 
in Lions. 
In conclusion it may be said that Asiatic Leopards (/. p. pardus, 
fontunieri, etc.) have the mesopterygoid fossa wide, with arcuate 
lateral edges and the anterior edge strongly angled. West African 
Leopards (fF. p. leopardus) have the mesopterygoid fossa narrower, 
with subparallel lateral edges and a straighter anterior border, 
whereas in Hast and South African animals some present one 
form of fossa and some the other; but I have not seen sufficient 
material to contribute anything further to the elucidation of the 
local races of Leopards, occurring between Abyssinia and Cape 
Colony. 
* An English inch=25 mm. 
