LEOPARD (1*), name,- ; Sept. rcip6aXes ; Cant. iv. 8 ; Is. xi. 6 ; Jer. v. 6 ; xiii. 23 ; Hos. xiii. 7 ; Hab. i. 8 ; Dan. vii. 6 ; Rev. xiii. 2 ; Ec clus. XXViii. 23). Though zoologists differ in opinion respecting the identity of the leopard and the panther, and dispute, supposing them to be dis tinct, how thcse names should be respectively applied, and by what marks the animals should be distinguished, nevertheless there can be no doubt that the nimr of the Bible is that great spotted feline which anciently infested the Syrian moun tains, and even now occurs in the wooded ranges of Libanus ; for the Arabs still itse_74.3 nimr, the same word slightly modified, to denote that animal. The Abyssinian name differs scarcely from either ; and in all these tongues it means spotted. Pigikris, according to Kirscher, is the Coptic name ; and in English, leopard ' has been adopted as the most appropriate to represent both the He brew word and the Greek 7rdp5etts, although the Latin impart-ins is not found in any author an terior to the 3d century, and is derived from a gross mistake in natural history. The variety of leopard, or rather panther, of Syria, is consider ably below the stature of a lioness, but very heavy in proportion to its bulk. Its general form is so
well known as to require no description beyond stating that the spots are rather more irregular, and the colour more mixed with whitish, than in the other pantherine felin, excepting the Fells Uncia, or Felis Irbis, of High Asia, which is shaggy and almost white. It is a nocturnal cat-like animal in habits, dangerous to all domestic cattle, and some times even to man. In the Scriptures it is con stantly placed in juxtaposition with the lion or the wolf ; which last, if the hyxna be intended, forms a natural association. There is in Asia Minor a species or variety of panther, much larger than the Syrian, not unfrequent on the borders of the snowy tracts even of Mount Ida, above ancient Troy; and the group of these spotted animals is spread over the whole of Southern Asia to Africa. From several names of places, it appears that, in thc earlier ages of Israelitish dominion, it was suffi ciently numerous in Palestine. Leopard skins were worn as a part of ceremonial costume by the su periors of the Egyptian priesthood, and by other personages in Nubia ; and the animal itself is repre sented in the processions of tributary nations.— C. H. S.