A hand-book to the carnivora. Pt. I, Cats, civets, and mungooses / by Richard Lydekker.

  • Lyddeker, Richard, 1849-1915.
Date:
[1894]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hand-book to the carnivora. Pt. I, Cats, civets, and mungooses / by Richard Lydekker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    As we shall have no more to say with regard to the Hunting- Leopard, we may dismiss this part of our subject with the following table, showing the various usages of the above-men- tioned names :— Hindustani. Ancient. Modern. Scientific. (-Leopard ... Hunting-Leopard ... Cyncelurusjubatus Chita ... j Pard ... Leopard ] Felispardus. v Panther ... Panther ... ... j This, however, by no means exhausts the subject of the confusion of nomenclature, for there is an equal discrepancy in the use of the terms Leopard and Panther. As we have already mentioned, there is but one type of these animals -in Africa to which it would appear that the name of Panther is probably strictly applicable. In India, on the other hand, two forms are generally recognised. Thus there is, firstly, a large kind, characterised by the tail being shorter than the head and body, by the long head, and by the spots being large and clearly defined, on a pale ground-colour. Secondly, we have a smaller animal, in which the tail is as long as the head and body, the head is short, and the spots are less distinctly defined, of smaller size, and placed closer together. Now, the latter smaller form was identified by Temminck with the African animal, and accordingly termed the Panther (F pardus), while the larger kind was called the Leopard (F. leopardus). This usage is followed by Mr. Sterndale in his work on Indian Mammals, and appears undoubtedly to be the right one if we regard the smaller Indian form as indistin- guishable from the African animal. On the other hand, we find Jerdon, following the lead of Indian sportsmen, applying the term Panther to the larger form, and Leopard to the smaller one, this usage being adopted by Mr. Saunderson and most other sporting writers. We thus have two diagrammati-
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