CAT. 
172 
*23. Leo- TJneia Caii opnfc. 42. Gefner quad.- 20 z. 
V ard. 825. Le Leopard de- Bnjfon, ir. i£t„ 
Le Leopard Marchais 'voy. I. tab. xiv. 
C. with hair of a lively yellow color; marked 00 
the back and ftdes with fmall fpots, difpofed in cir¬ 
cles, and placed pretty clofely together : the face 
and legs marked with fingle fpots : the breaft and 
belly covered with longer hairs than the reft of the 
body, of a whitifh color : the fpots on the tail large 
and oblong : the length of this fpecies, from nofe 
to tail, four feet ^ the tail two and a half. 
came from the Spanijh fettlements in the Wejl Indies: Thefe fkins 
equaled thofe of the old continent, in beauty and fize. Notwith- j 
Handing M. de Buffon denies this animal to be a native of America, 
yet I cannot help thinking, that the fame, or a variety at left, inha- j 
bits the hot parts' of that country. 1. The figure of the fpecies, j 
described by Faber hijl. An. NO’v. Hifp. 498, under the name of Tigris 
Mexicana , agrees exactly with that of the Panther; as does the de- 1 
fcription in general, given p. 507. 2. Every other animal of 
this genus, which has been yet difcovered in America , is far inferior j 
in fize and ftrength to this ; whofe common height, Faber fays, is j, 
four or five feet, and whofe prey is wild cattle, horfes, See. M. ! , 
Cmdamine *, and Le Pere Cajetan Cattaneo **, fpeak of the Tigers 1 
[i. e. the Panthers) of America^ as equal, and even fuperior, in fiz^, to 1 
thofe of Africa ; and the color as bright as gold; and Ulloa f defen bes I 1 
them as big as little horfes. 3. Notwithftanding the venders of furs' 
are not entirely to be relied on, as to the countries their goods come 
from ; yet the general opinion of the whole trade, that thefe fkins fj 
were the produdl of Spanijh America , is a further proof of their being j 
common to botf continents. 
But the new world, efpecially the part poftelTed by the jealous ,j 
Spaniards , is ftill very imperfec'Ty explored : fufiicient fpace is ftill 
left for the conqueft of the naturalift ; lb at prefent he has no reafon 
to weep, like Alexander , for want of other globes. 
* Voy. Sr. 
** Vide three very entertaining Letters added to Muratoti's Millions of Pa* 
vaguay , 2,59. 
f Vol. I. 
Inhabits 
