EELIS. 



163 



F. fontanieri, in wMcli the f rentals are more arched with the nasals in the same 

 curve. In Leopardus chinemis, Gray, a fully adult animal, there is the same short 

 muzzle as in jP. fontanieri, and the foregoing two facial measurements are for 

 practical purposes equal. 



Table of measurements. 



First. 



Second. 



This table also shows that the character is a variable one, at least in the leopards 

 of India, as is further found by A. M. -Edwards' observations on the skulls in the 

 Paris Museum. 



The other character by which the skull of Felis fontamieri is said to be dis- 

 tinguished from F. pardus is the different proportions in which the length from the 

 posterior border of the occipital condyles to the orbito-sphenoid foramina stands 

 to the total length of the alveolar border of the superior maxillary, the former 

 measurement in Felis fontanieri equalling the latter, while in the F. pardus the 

 superior, alveolar, maxillary length is notably longer. But in this detaU, the skull 

 of Leopardus chinensis conforms to the Indian type, in which, however, these 

 proportions seem to change with age and to be otherwise variable. In the above- 

 mentioned leopard skulls these measurements stand to each other in the following 

 proportions : — 



No. 1, 3-10 to 3-25 ; No. 2, 2-90 to 2-96 ; No. 3, 2-80 to 2-83 ; No. 4, 2-76 to 

 2*83; and in Leopardus chinensis, 2'35 to 2"55. 



The Yunnan skull is young, measuring only 5-75 inches in extreme length. The 

 facial portion is more downwardly arched than in the skull of F. fontanieri figured by 

 A. M.-Edwards, or in Leopardus chinensis, Gray, but the distance, as already stated, 

 between the anterior border of the canine alveolus to the tip of the fronto-nasal 

 process of the superior maxiUa is less than the space comprised between the external 

 margins of the infra-orbital foramina, falling ia the centre of these openings. In this 

 respect, the skuU more closely resembles F. fontanieri than F. pardus. On the other 

 hand, the frontal region is broad, the breadth between the external orbital angles 

 much exceeding the distance from the summit of the median suture of the nose to the 

 lower border of the infra-orbital foramen, and in this respect it agrees with skulls 

 of Indian leopards. Turning to the basal portion, the interval between the posterior 

 border of the occipital condyles and the spheno-orbital foramina is more than the 

 length of the alveolar border of the superior maxilla, but these proportions would 

 probably alter with the growth of the skull. I am also inclined to think that the 



