3 88 
CARNIVORES. 
use, and it is accordingly preferable to call each of the two animals by its English 
title. The ground-colour of the fur of the leopard is subject to considerable 
individual variation, but it is generally of a yellowish-fawn, with a more or less 
marked rufous tinge, becoming gradually lighter on the flanks, and thus passing 
into pure white on the under-parts. The spots, which are very variable in size 
and number, take the form of rosettes, and consist, on the upper-parts, of an 
irregular black ring (nearly always incomplete), enclosing a bright central area, 
which may be of the same tint as the general ground-colour, but is not unfrequently 
darker. On the head, lower portions of the limbs, 'and flanks (where they are 
brownish), the spots have no light centres, and are smaller. The tail, of which the 
length may vary from rather more than one-half to about three-quarters that of 
the head and body, is likewise spotted throughout the greater part of its length; 
but at and near the tip the spots become larger and fewer, and tend to form more 
or less nearly complete rings. Leopard cubs do not have the colours so well 
defined or so brilliant as in the adult animal. The hair on the head and body is 
generally short and close, but tends to become longer when the animal inhabits 
colder regions than usual, and that on the tail and under-parts is always longer 
than the rest. From this normal coloration an almost complete transition can be 
observed to black leopards, which were at one time regarded as belonging to a 
distinct species. Perfectly black leopards have been only found hitherto in Asia, 
and appear to be more common in the hills of Southern India, and the Malay 
Peninsula and islands, than elsewhere. The skin of such black specimens, when 
viewed in certain lights, invariably exhibits a kind of “ watered-silk ” appearance, 
due to the presence of the spots, in which the hair has a still deeper tinge of black 
than elsewhere. That such black leopards are nothing more than varieties is 
proved by instances where a female of the ordinary colour has given birth to a 
litter, among which was a black cub. One such instance is recorded by 
Mr. G. P. Sanderson as having taken place at the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, 
where a female gave birth to one spotted and one black cub. 
Although no perfectly black leopards have ever been found in Africa, yet 
there occurs in the southern portion of that country a rare variety which exhibits 
a more or less strongly marked tendency towards blackness. One such specimen 
was described in 1885 by Dr. Gunther, which was obtained in hilly land covered 
with scrub-jungle, near Grahamstown. The ground-colour of this animal was a 
rich tawny, with an orange tinge; but the spots, instead of being of the usual 
rosette-like form, were nearly all small and solid, like those on the head of an 
ordinary leopard; while from the top of the head to near the root of the tail the 
spots become almost confluent, producing the appearance of a broad streak of black 
running down the back. A second skin, figured by the same writer in the following 
year, had the black area embracing nearly the whole of the back and flanks, 
without showing any trace of the spots, while, in those portions of the skin where 
the latter remained, they were of the same form as in the first specimen. Two 
other specimens are known; the whole four having been obtained from the 
Albany district. It will thus be apparent that these dark-coloured African leopards 
differ from the black leopards of Asia, in that while in the latter the rosette¬ 
like spots are always retained, and are always visible, in the former the rosettes 
