The Leopard and Panther 139 



panther, which is very common towards Mergeri and 

 Tavay, is only a lusus naturce." He himself " saw a 

 female panther near Shoaydung, with two cubs, one black 

 and one spotted." 



The "snow leopard " is very little known on account of 

 the solitary and inaccessible regions it inhabits. "It is 

 the rarest event," says Colonel F. Markham ("Shooting 

 in the Himalayas "), " to see one, though it roams about 

 apparently as much by day as by night. Even the shep- 

 herds who pass the whole of the summer months, year 

 after year, in the area where it lives, that is to say, above 

 the forests where there is little or no cover . . . seldom 

 see one. ... It is surprising and unaccountable how it 

 eludes observation." He describes its ground color as 

 being of a dingy white, with faint yellowish-brown mark- 

 ings, and represents the animal to be considerably smaller 

 than its congeners of the hot country below. Captain 

 Baldwin, however, , saw a skin as large as a panther's. 

 This was " of a light gray color, with irregular black spots. 

 There was a black line running lengthways over the hind 

 quarters, the hair was long on the neck, and the tail was 

 remarkably long, ringed with black, and black at the 

 tip." 



An animal of the same species, and very like this, is 

 confined to the equatorial belt of Africa. It is as rare as 

 the " snow leopard," and has only been seen once or twice. 

 Andersson ("Lake N'gami") reports that the "maned 

 leopard " was mistaken by him for a lion. This name is 

 a translation of the native title — N'gulula, and Leslie, 

 who knew more about it than any one else, states that "a 



