106 



Catalogue of Mammalia 



[July 



26. — Felis Pardus, Lin. 



Of this species there appear to he two varieties, a large and a small 

 kind, though others are of opinion, that the smaller animal is the leo- 

 pard.* The natives distinctly recognize the two kinds by different 

 names. f 



The large variety — Honiga, Canarese .... op^^ 

 Tendwa, Dakhani .... \ jjyj 



Tendowa, of the Bauris or chita catchers. 

 Asnea, Mahratta of the Ghats. , 

 The smaller one — Kerkal, Canarese 



Gorbacha, Dukhani , f 



Billa, of the Bauris. 



The most remarkable difference between these seems to be that oF 

 size, but on a careful inspection, other particulars are detected. 



An examination of a large collection of skii.s, that had been brought 

 for the Government reward, and were deposited in the office of the 

 district, gave the following characters. The larger skins measured 

 from 4^ to 5 feet ; the tail 2| — 7| ; the heigh tjrppeared to be 2\\ the 

 smaller ones were 3 to 3| ft. long • the tail 2\ — 6 ; the height was 

 from 1^ to 2. 



The colour of the larger skins was generally pale fulvous yellow, the 

 belly white, whilst others were deeper and more tawny, some being a 

 sort of reddish yellow, without any white at all,beneath. In the Kerkal 

 there is also a great variety of shade. But generally a greater number 

 of Honigas are pale coloured and of the Kerkals dark ; whence probably 

 the name of the latter from kera, dark or black. As a general 

 rule too, the fur of the Honigais shorter and closer, that of the Kerkal 

 longer and looser. The character of the spots is always the same. They 

 may be characterised as imperfect annul i, consisting of groups of spots, 

 arranged in imperfect circles ; but sometimes approximating more and 

 becoming like trifoils •.*, squares : :, or like the impression of a dog's 

 foot, particularly along the dorsal line, and on the head, neck, shoulders, 

 loins and legs. Where the ground colour is dark, the spots are more 

 confused. The tail is without annuli, spotted throughout, but sometimes 

 the spots run into each other at the end, giving the appearance of a black 

 tip. 



* Col. Sykes also distinguish es two kinds of chela, but considers the larger one to be 

 the leopard. 



+ Shaw says.the leopard is distinguished from the panther by its paler yellow colour.and 

 again that the leopard is considerably the smaller of the two. Here the paler is the 

 larger. 



