﻿178 



PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



ception of the canine belonging to Lord Enniskillen are preserved in the Taunton 

 Museum. 



§ 2. Comparison of fossil remains with most closely allied living forms. — Under the name 

 Felis (Zeopardus) pardus we intend to embrace the Panther properly so called, and the 

 Leopard, the former consisting of the larger and stouter, and the latter of the more slender 

 and smaller individuals ; since an examination of a large number of skulls, skeletons, 

 skins, and living animals, has convinced us that the differences are only varietal, and not 

 of specific value. At the same time there exists in Northern China, and, we have 

 reason to believe, also in other parts of Eastern Asia, a species which is undoubtedly 

 distinct, and which differs from the Panther, in the comparative length of the nasals 

 and frontal processes of the maxillaries, exactly as the Tiger differs from the Lion. 

 This species has been named by Dr. Gray ( e Proc. Zool. Soc.,' 1867, p. 264) Zeopardus 

 Chinensis; Dr. Gray describes a third species, under the name of Zeopardus Japonen sis 

 ('Proc. Zool. Soc.,' 1862, p. 262); and the fourth is the Jaguar of America, Zeopardus 

 onca, Linn. These are the only living species with which it is necessary to compare the 

 fossils in question. 1 



On comparing the fossil teeth with those of the living Leopard and the Jaguar, we 

 find that they agree with the former in their slender, delicate, and compressed form. 

 In the Jaguar (Felis onca) the teeth are much stouter and the cusps of the molar series 

 more obtusely conical. The canines (PI. XXIV, figs. 1, 3, 4) present a character which at 

 once differentiates them from those of the latter animal in the two longitudinal grooves or 

 sillons which traverse the outer and the inner sides of the crown. In the Jaguar the second 

 sillon on the outer side is a mere rudiment, or in some cases is altogether absent. In all 

 these points in which the teeth correspond with those of the Leopard, Felis pardus, they 

 also agree with those of the allied species Zeopardus Chinensis of Dr. Gray. They may, 

 however, be referred with considerable certainty to the former animal, since it has 

 been found in several caves in Prance, while the latter has not been known to live out 

 of China. 



A glance at the following table will give the relative size of the fossil lower true molar 

 as compared with that of the Leopard and Jaguar (PI. XXIV, fig. 2). 







Leopardus. 



Africa. 



Cat. 115. 



Brit. Museum. 



Leopardus. 

 Africa. 



Brit. Museum. 



Felis {Leopardus) 

 onca. Brazils. 



117 C. 

 Brit. Museum. 



Antero-posterior length 

 Antero-transverse diameter 



0-81 

 0-3 

 0-28 

 0-44 



07 

 0-3 



0-28 

 0-38 



07 

 0-3 



0-28 

 0-39 



074 

 0-42 

 0-38 

 0-39 



Postero-transverse diameter 



Height of crown 





1 A fifth species of Leopardus, of large size, has been recently described by M. Milne-Edwards, from 

 Northern China. 'Ann. Sci. Nat.,' ser. 5, torn, viii, pp. 374-76. 



