OCR Text |
Show 1874.] AND LEOPARDS OF CHINA. 147 skull of the long-haired Mantchurian Tiger, and the other that of the form inhabiting the southern parts of the empire. He has also procured skulls of the Leopards met with in the corresponding countries, and has been good enough to place the collection in m y hands for comparison, and in order that the Society may have an opportunity of viewing them. 1. Skulls of Felis tigris. One of these, upon which the soft parts in a dried state still remain so as somewhat to interfere with the examination, but not materially, is from Fvchoo, 120 miles inland from Ningpo in the south of China; and the other, that of a Mantchurian Tiger, from Kirin, in the north of the empire. The latter was taken out of a long-haired skin, procured by the Governor of the port of New-chwang ; so that, as Mr. Swinhoe states, there can be no doubt of its genuineness. That from Fychoo belonged to a short-haired animal undistin-guishable, in Mr. Swinhoe's opinion, from the Bengal Tiger. He also states that the long-haired variety is so far adapted to a cold climate that in the winter it is observed to live in burrows under the snow. The closest comparison I have been able to make between these two externally distinct varieties fails to indicate any thing approaching a specific distinction between them ; nor, again, do they appear in any respect to differ, so far as the cranial and dental characters are concerned, from the Indian species. 2. Skulls of Felis leopardus. The same may be said of the two Leopard skulls submitted to my inspection by Mr. Swinhoe. One of these skulls is that of the species (or of a species) inhabiting the mountains near Ningpo, and regarded by Mr. Swinhoe as identical in every respect with the Indian Leopard; whilst the other was procured at the port of Newchwang from a native of the country. The latter, Mr. Swinhoe remarked to me, might probably be the Felis fontanieri of M . Alphonse Milne-Edwards* ; but this is perhaps an erroneous impression. However this may be, in the cranial and dental characters at all events there is no appreciable distinction between the northern and southern forms brought by Mr. Swinhoe; and as further comparison of these skulls with that of the Indian Leopard only serves fully to confirm Mr. Swinhoe's opinion as to their identity with Felis leopardus of India, we are compelled to the conclusion that that species inhabits both the northern and southern parts of China, and is, like the Tiger, capable, with some modification * Ann. des Sc. Nat. 5me ser. torn, viii., and ' Recherches pour servir a l'his-toire naturelle des Mammiferes,' p. 208, 1872. 10* |