ON A REMARKABLE VARIETY OF THE LEOPARD (FELIS PARDUS), OBTAINED IN THE EAST OF THE CAPE COLONY. BY B. TRIMEN, F.R.S., F.Z.S. (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, November 20, 1883), [Received September 12, 1883.]:- In the Albany Museum, at Grahamstown, I have lately seen a mounted skin of Felis pardus, which differs much from any specimen that I have previously met with. It is that of a full-grown animal, but its sex is not noted. In this example the most noteworthy character is the abundance of small black simple spots, almost to the exclusion of the ordinary "rose" or "ring" spots. The small spots are very numerous on the forehead and sides of the head, all along the dorsal tract, on both sides all over the middle of the body, and also on the shoulders and outer sides of the fore legs. Imperfect rose-spots are observable on the paler spaces on the sides of the neck, of the body behind the shoulders, and of the thighs. The fur of the tail is of a sandy colour, spotted and mixed with fuscous, the terminal portion being grizzled fuscous.

This specimen is labelled "Bucklands, near Koonap presented by Mr. Buckley, August 1870." The Catalogue of the Albany Museum mentions it as a cross between the ordinary and black Leopards ; but I believe the well-known black form of the Leopard has never been met with in South Africa (if in Africa at all), the specimens recorded being from India, Java, and Sumatra. I should thus prefer to regard this Cape specimen as an interesting aberration in the direction of the complete melanism of the so-called Felis melas.

NOTE ON A SUPPOSED MELANOTIC VARIETY OF THE LEOPARD, FROM SOUTH AFRICA. BY DR. A. GUNTHER, F.Z.S., Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, March 3, 1885, [Received March 3, 1885.], (Plate XVL):- A few days ago, Mr. F. Bowker brought to me the flat skin of a "rare Leopard" which he had obtained at Grahamstown. The animal had been killed in a hilly district covered with dense scrub and situated at a distance of about forty miles from the town. On further inquiry I learned that a second specimen had been obtained in the same district, and is at present preserved in the Museum of Grahamstown [This is evidently the same specimen which was described by Mr. Trimen in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p535]; that the ordinary kind of Leopard is common in the locality, that the Cheetah is very scarce, and that the Lion has been entirely exterminated for a considerable period.

It is a well-known fact that the Asiatic Leopard exhibits a decided tendency to melanism; and it is stated that the black Leopards are found chiefly in forest-districts of considerable elevation. So far, the conditions under which melanism appears in the Asiatic Leopard seem to be similar to those under which our specimen was reared. On the other hand, the abnormal coloration affects the ornamental pattern of the Asiatic Leopard in a different fashion from that observable in our specimen. In the former the black colour is equally diffused over the whole body, the rosettes retaining their shape and number, and shining with a more intense black through the ground-colour. This is a very different pattern from that of our specimen. Nevertheless, considering all circumstances, I have no better opinion to offer than this, that the specimen is an instance of incipient melanism the first appearance of the melanotic tendency which is so strongly developed in Asiatic individuals of this widely spread species.

SECOND NOTE ON THE MELANOTIC VARIETY OF THE SOUTH-AFRICAN LEOPARDBy Dr. A. Gunther, F.Z.S., Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, April 6, 1886, [Received March 26, 1880.]:- By the last South-African mail I have received from Mr. N. Abraham, President of the Graham's-town Natural History Society, a letter with photograph enclosed, which gives more positive information about the variety of the Leopard of the district of Albany, mentioned by Mr. Trimen in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 535, and described by myself, ibid. 1885, p, 243, pi. xvi. The skin in Mr. Abraham's possession leaves hardly any doubt that we have before us a case of incipient melanism, which, if the family in which the melanotic tendency showed itself had been left undisturbed, might have been developed into as complete a condition of melanism as is occasionally found in the Asiatic Leopard. Mr. Abraham writes as follows :

I remain, dear Sir, Yours sincerely, (Signed) Nendick Abraham, Pres. Graham s-town Natural History Society."

Proceedings of the Zoological Society, May 3, 1887.: "The case [. . . ] seems much to resemble those of the singular form of Cheetah (Felis lanea of Sclater), of which only five specimens are known, all from the very limited area of Nel's Point, in the Beaufort District of the Cape Colony, and the equally aberrant Leopard (F. pardus, L., var. melas ; see Trimen, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 535, and Gunther, P. Z. S. ]885, pi. xvi. p. 243), of which only three examples are known, from the neighbourhood of the Koonap River, in the Fort-Beaufort District on the eastern side of the Cape Colony. It is very noticeable that, in all three cases, the abnormal form does not replace the normal one to which it is so nearly related, but occurs in the midst of the latter, quite isolated, yet appearing to maintain and perpetuate (albeit in but very few individuals) its peculiarities of colouring or of pattern."

This indicates a (probably recessive) gene was present in the leopard population and that the variant leopards showed up when two carriers of the gene bred together. Accounts of these leopards were widely repeated in later publications.

In Animal Life and the World of Nature (1902 1903), a pseudo-melanistic leopard with heavily speckled markings was described: A very curious (and seemingly new) variety - if not sub-species of the leopard is found in Northern Cape Colony and perhaps in Basutoland. It is of large size, but the rosettes have changed into innumerable tiny black spots thickly scattered over the rather umber-tinted fur of the upper parts. The bold black stripes of the throat and the black spots on the white belly are retained. In fact it is a parallel case to the Servaline Cat, which differs only from the common Serval by the substitution of many little spots on a dusky ground for the large clear black spotting on yellow. It would almost seem as though (but for the hindrance of man and his attempts at exterminating) a new species of leopard on rather leonine lines was being developed under our eyes in South Africa. With this exception the leopards of all Africa, and of India, Ceylon and Malaysia, are absolutely indistinguishable in appearance, size, and markings, though all these regions offer two distinct and similar types, according as the leopard in question inhabits the open or the forest country.

In The Field No 2887, April 25th, 1908, Henry Scherren wrote "By the kindness of Dr P Chalmers Mitchell, Secretary of the Zoological Society, Mr Smith's drawing of a melanotic leopard obtained at Grahamstown is here reproduced. When Dr Gunther described that animal (Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1883, p 243) the question of hybridity with a cheetah or a leopard for sire was discussed, but rejected in favour of the view that the animal was an instance of incipient melanism, the ground colour being tawny, with an orange gloss about the shoulders. With the permission of Dr Mitchell I shall shortly exhibit at a scientific meeting of the Zoological Society black leopard skins obtained in quite a different part of Africa" (While relatively common in India, black leopards are uncommon in Africa).

Pseudo-melanistic leopard, once posited as a leopard x cheetah hybrid

W. L. Sclater s Mammals of South Africa, 1900, I, p. 36 37 describes South Africa s pseudo-melanistic leopards and observes that in South African leopards, pseudo-melanism (abundism) takes the place of the true melanism is found in Asian leopards.

Varieties. The leopard is an animal which varies a good deal both in size and in the colour and distribution of its markings, so that it has always been a doubtful question as to the number and validity of the species. Both in Africa and India sportsmen have been in the habit of distinguishing a smaller "hill" and a larger "plains " variety, the distinctions between which have been clearly pointed out by Kirby. The smaller has a rich buff ground colour and long thick fur, and the rosettes of the back run together somewhat so as to form several continuous stripes from the nape of the neck to the middle of the back. The animal measures on an average 6 ft. 5, of which the tail forms 2 ft. 10. The larger low country variety has very short far, with a pale fawn ground, and no sign of the black stripes along the back ; it is a lankier, longer animal than the other, and measures about 6 ft. 10, of which the tail forms about 2 ft. 6. Mr. Kirby, however, further states that these two described varieties are merely the extremes, and that intermediate forms are common, even commoner than the extremes, and that in no way can the two be considered as different species or even geographical races.

More distinct variations of the leopard sometimes occur. Dr. Gunther has described a very pale sandy variety from Matabeleland; but perhaps the most remarkable form is one noticed by Gunther and Trimen, of which three or four specimens have been obtained, all from the neighbourhood of Grahamstown, and of which an example has recently reached the South African Museum. This peculiar form shows no trace of the rosettes, but is covered, especially on the head and along the back, with a large number of small round black spots, which in one case were so numerous as to be fused together, so that the whole of the back and sides of the animal was quite black, while below and on the lower part of the legs the spots remain separate. In fact, this variety must be accounted as much a black " leopard " as any of those not infrequently found in Southern Asia. The difference, however, between the two varieties is an essential one, as in the Asiatic black leopard the melanism is caused by the darkening of the tawny ground colour, and the rosettes can be seen, somewhat like spots on watered silk in certain lights; whereas in the African variety the melanism seems to be caused by the great increase of the spots, which finally fuse to form a uniform black livery.

R. Lydekker wrote in "Game Animals Of India, Burma, Malaya, And Tibet," 1907 Another point is that there are no black leopards in Africa, although occasionally specimens are met with on the high grounds of South Africa in which practically the whole of the rosettes are broken up into minute, widely separated spots, while the ground-colour is darker than usual and the middle line of the back almost completely black. In one such specimen the semi-blackness of the back extends over the whole of the upper-parts, although the spots are still more or less distinctly visible.

In Harmsworth Natural History (1910), R Lydekker wrote: "In 1908, at one of the meetings of the Zoological Society of London, there were exhibited certain dark-coloured leopard-skins from Abyssinia, two of which were wholly black, while the others were what is called melanistic. These skins were made up into rugs, and it was also mentioned that other specimens of a similar character, reputed to come from Abyssinia, had been received on previous occasions in London, and treated in the same manner. The melanistic skins merely showed a deepening of the general colour, more especially on the two sides of the dorsal line; and an intensification of the same feature had evidently led to the production of complete melanism in the other two skins, both of which, when viewed in certain lights, revealed the existence of the normal black rosettes. in regard to general colouring these skins are, in fact, of the black Asiatic type. A similar skin has been obtained from Eastern Africa, hut in the rest of that continent black leopards seem to be unknown. There is, however, a peculiar dark phase in South Africa, a specimen of which was obtained in 1885 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 became almost confluent, producing the appearance of a broad streak of black running down the back. A second skin 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. These dark-coloured South African leopards differ from the black leopards of the northern and eastern parts of Africa and Asia in that while in the latter the rosette-like spots are always retained and clearly visible, in the former the rosettes are lost - as, indeed, is to a considerable extent often the case in ordinary African leopards - and all trace of spots disappears from the blacker portions of the skin. The idea has long been current that black leopards are much fiercer and more bad-tempered than those of the normal colouring.

The skin of a pseudo-melanistic leopard leopard was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912: The wide black portion, which glistens like the sheen of silk velvet, extends from the top of the head to the extremity of the tail entirely free from any white or tawny hairs [...] In the tiger, the stripes are black, of a uniform character, upon a tawny background, and they run in parallel lines from the centre of the back to the belly. In this skin, the stripes are almost golden yellow, without the uniformity and parallelism of the tiger characteristics, and they extend along the sides in labyrinthine graceful curls and circles, several inches below the wide shimmering black continuous course of the back. The extreme edges around the legs and belly are white and spotted like the skin of a leopard [...] The skin is larger than that of a leopard but smaller than that of a full grown tiger." The cat had been killed in Malabar, India in 1912 and was later identified as a pseudo-melanistic leopard. Two pseudomelanistic leopards are shown below.

In May 1936, the Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This was very different to the pattern of spotted leopard, but rather similar to the pattern of the King Cheetah. Some modern cryptozoologists refer to the specimen as a King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six specimens of pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded from the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South, indicating that the gene mutation was present in the local leopard population. Others have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. The human penchant for shooting unusually patterned leopards appears to have wiped out individuals that carried the mutation.

G.C. Shortridge, in The Mammals of South-West Africa, in 1934, listed a number of leopard variants in Africa: Steinhardt described the Kaokoveld Leopard (P. p. puella) as a grayish animal with small spots, and suspected it of being a distinct local race. Wilhelm also noted that the Kaokoveld or Mountain Leopard was a smaller and less powerful animal than that occurring in the plains everywhere farther east.

COLOUR VARIATION. - Vaughan-Kirby once shot a leopard in South Africa in which the fur was dark vandyke-brown with a surprisingly rich orange gloss, spots either black or sepia-brown but barely distinguishable in some places, and ears without the usual buff tips. The dark-coloured leopards shot towards the end of the last century in the neighbourhood of Grahamstown, and described at the time by Gunther as Pelis pardus melanotica (P.Z.S., 1885, p. 243) are not melanos, like the black leopards of Abyssinia and Malaya. This is clearly shown by the rich buff ground-colour where not obliterated by the extension of the pattern and especially by the whiteness of the underside, and inside of limbs. I know of the existence of six of these specimens, two in the British Museum, one (mounted) in the South African Museum, two (both mounted) in the Albany Museum, and a mounted head in the Port Elizabeth Museum. Pocock (P.Z.S., 1932, p. 583) suggests that these mutations are, or were, locally dominant: but the reason for at least half a dozen abnormal specimens being on record is more probably due to their unusual type, which accounts for their having been sent to museums when ordinary specimens would not have been preserved. There are two locally killed leopards in the Kaffrarian Museum, one from the Perie Forest, and the other from Pluto s Vale (half way between King William s Town and Grahamstown), both of which are normal in coloration and typify the Leopard of the Eastern Cape Province.

[Note: He was, indeed, a beautiful beast, - small, but magnificently proportioned, and with wonderful muscles. I felt I could not sufficiently admire him. He measured as he lay, from nose to tail-tip 5 feet 8 inches, tail 2 feet 4 inches, height at shoulder 2 feet 3 inches, girth of forearm 10 inches. The ground-colour of the skin is dark vandyke-brown, with an orange shade of surprising richness and gloss, paling slightly on the flanks; chest and under-parts pure white, with long hair. Upon the head and lower parts of the limbs the spots-which are very close set all over the body-are deep black in colour, on the flanks rich sepia-brown; and along the dorsal line the rosettes run into one another, forming four broad black bands, running from the neck to half-way along the tail. The cars at the back are quite black, without the buff tips as in other leopards. It can be at once understood from this description that at a little distance the animal could easily be mistaken for one entirely black. - Frederick Vaughan-Kirby, In Haunts of Wild Game: A Hunter-naturalist's Wanderings from Kahlamba to Libombo" (1896) (p 242 - 243)]

A black leopard in the South African Museum is figured in W. L. Sclater s Mammals of South Africa, 1900, I, p. 36 - and described therein as follows: This form shows no traces of rosettes, but is covered, especially on the head and along the back, with a number of small round black spots, which in one case were so numerous as to be fused together so that the whole of the back and sides of the animal were quite black, while below and on the lower part of the legs the spots remain separate." [Footnote 1: 1 Pocock (P.Z.S., III, pp. 791-95) exhibited the skin of a leopard from Kanara (S. India) in which the fusion of spots was precisely similar to that in South African specimens; he noted that it remains to be seen if the black leopards referred to by Blanford from Southern India are of the ordinary kind better known from countries east of the Bay of Bengal. In Southern India, however, I had the opportunity of examining a number of black leopard skins, including a live animal, and they were all identical with the true evergreen-forest melanoids from Burma and the Malay Countries. Lydekker (P.Z.S., 1908, I, pp. 1-3) exhibited a leopard skin from Cuddapah, in which the spots showed a tendency towards disintegration into large black-bordered areas.]

Black leopards have also been recorded from Southern Rhodesia and Abyssinia. [Footnote 2: Some exhibited melanistic leopard skins from Abyssinia showed a deepening of the ground colour, especially along and on each side of the median dorsal line. In the black skins, of which two were shown, traces of markings were visible in certain lights. and the melanism appeared to be due to a deepening of the ground, not to a multiplication of the spots."-Burton (P.Z.S., 1908. p- 346) This Abyssinian leopard is a distinct race described by Pocock as Panthera p. adusta, (cf. P.Z.S. 1932, p. 549).] I have never heard of a true albino leopard: Gunther described a very pale variety from Kalene Hill, Southern Rhodesia; the ground colour of the skin is pale cream-buff with the rosettes varying from pale to chocolate brown (cf. Pocock, P.Z.S., 1932, p. 581).

Proceedings of the Zoological Society, April 28, 1908: Mr. Henry Scherren, F.Z.S., exhibited on behalf of Mr. Walter Burton, F.Z.S., some melanistic and black leopard skins, presented to Mr. Clarkson Williams in Abyssinia, where they were obtained. The melanistic skins showed a deepening of ground-colour, especially along and on each side of the median dorsal line. In the black skins, of which two were shown, traces of markings were visible in certain lights, and the melanism appeared to be due to a deepening of the ground, not to a multiplication of the spots. Mr. Scherren stated that black skins from the same locality had been received by Mr. Rowland Ward, and, like these, made up into rugs. Mr. Ward, however, had preferred not to exhibit till he could procure skins obtained by a European sportsman.

A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards

Pseudo-melanistic leopard or "king leopard" from Kerala, India

In 2012, a pseudo-melanistic leopard was reported in the Parambikulam forests in the Palakkad district of Kerala (in the Western Ghats), India. The black spots were closely packed to give it a designer coat. In the case of the deer, the white spots on its reddish fawn coat were overshadowed by the black pigmentation, giving the animal a blackish appearance. In this dense forest habitat, melanism and pseudo-melanism may be an advantage to the leopard.

Guggisberg noted that leopards can be extremely variable in their patterns. In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin obtained from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another skin from southern India shown by Pocock had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.

CAN THE LEOPARD CHANGE HIS SPOTS. - The Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser, 1st February 1908, page 2: A mere leopard skin sent in from the Deccan, where there are leopards in plenty, is puzzling the British museum authorities at South Kensington. The markings on the skin, says Mr Lydekker, of the Museum, present a remarkable variation from the normal type, If we did not know the country of its origin we should have guessed that this wus the skin of a new species. The head and back are decorated with a big-meshed network of broad buff-coloured lines, the first mesh taking in the whole head. There are no tiger characteristics, or it might be guessed that we have here a tiger-leopard hybrid.