SOME NATUJiE NOTES. 407 



triot, :ui(l even in one and the aixmo Itimily. Mr. Solous relates that 

 ho shot north of hike N'gami two pairs of male lions, hunting together. 

 In the case of both these i)airs the animals living and hunting together 

 ilifFered from one another very much. In each case one was of a 

 very dark colour all over, with a dark mane, whilst the body of the 

 other was of a pale yellow, and it had scarcely any mane at all. 

 A few days afterwards, two lionesses were shot on the same plain. 

 One was about to aive birth to three cubs : two of these cubs wen^ 

 males, one dark, the other reddish yellow ; the fur of the female culj 

 was lighter than the dark male. Mr. Selous is of opinion that the 

 cubs would have grown up into animals differing in appearance as 

 they differed before birth. The dark cub woidd have become a dark 

 skinned, dark-maned lion, the lighter coloured one a yellow lion 

 with probably very little mane. The scientific naturalist — had he 

 received the skins of the two animals, would no doubt have referred 

 them to different local races, perhaps from widely separated parts of 

 rlie African Continent. Mr. Selous tells us also that out of fifty lion 

 skins scarcely two will be found exactly alike in the colour and length 

 of the mane. No doubt, as the African hunter points out, variations 

 in amount of mane are frequently to be referred to the efi'ects of 

 climate. Thus, lions in captivity in a cold climate will develop a 

 finer mane than those in a wild state. The Indian lion, generally 

 almost destitute of mane, will grow a fine one when captive in 

 Europe. 



At any rate what Mr. Selous tells us regarding the variations of 

 the lion shows the absurdity of this attempted division into local races. 

 In the same manner we find other animals subdivided on insufficient 

 grounds; as, for instance, tlie African buft'alo, of which we are given 

 some fifteen separate sub-species, each with its string of names, but 

 r(»garding which Mr. Selous writes : " 1 do not for a moment believe 

 t'tiat if a collection of 1,000 heads of buffalo bulls existed to-day, 

 wiuch had been brought together indiscriminately from every part, 

 of South Africa, anyone could tell from what district they came." In 

 fact, he found the greatest variations in the horns even in a single 

 herd, and it is on the form or shape of horn that the naturalist bases 

 his su])divisional theories. 



The same may be said with regard to many species of Indian 



annuals, which are divided into sub-species oi" local races on the 

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