182 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vor-. 53. 



tufts at backs of elbows are extraordinarily long, thick, and silky of 

 rich black and buff hairs. Whereas in wild lions of equal age the 

 hairs of these tufts average about 60 millimeters in length and are 

 rarely over 80, in this specimen they are 200 millimeters in length. 

 The mane is remarkably full and is not approached in this respect 

 nor in its deep coloration by those of wild-killed lions. It is full and 

 wide on the withers and luxuriant on the lower neck and anterior 

 shoulders. The whole head, face, and mane are richly tinged with 

 deep tawny and ochraceous. The tail is rich and dark in color, the 

 black tip offering little contrast in shade from the general color of 

 its upper side. 



Females. — The wild lioness of Felis leo massaica averages some- 

 what darker in color than the male, but the coloration in its essential 

 elements is the same — a grayish buff general color, the effect of a 

 pale pinkish buff ground color mixed with the blackish of the hair 

 tips. Except in very rare cases there is little or no indication of 

 real tawny or ochraceous in the general coloration. 



The first of the three McMillan lionesses to die was No. 176201, 

 March 22, 1913. The skin is much darker than the average wild- 

 killed massaica and is very much darker than when the animal 

 reached the Washington Zoo in 1909. 



The second female (No. 197137) died December 25, 1913. The 

 skin of this lioness is somewhat darker than the wild animal and is 

 conspicuously cinnamon colored, not at all the grayish buff of a nor- 

 mal massaica. The hoWj is pure cinnamon color, not buff as in all 

 the wild lionesses of this form. The coat is long and full. 



The last female of the McMillan lions died February 14, 1915, 

 after over five years in the Washington Zoo. The skin is very dark 

 and has been greatly changed since its arrival. It is very much 

 darker than any skin of a wild-killed female massaica in a large 

 series, and at a short distance looks like a tawny blackish animal. 

 It represents the extreme of change in color in the lioness as No. 

 199707 does in the lion. The back is dark brownish tawny olive, rich 

 and glossy. 



From the above facts it is evident that life in Washington con- 

 siderably darkened the color of these McMillan lions. Young wild 

 lions are much darker and richer colored than adults, quite the re- 

 verse of the condition in the McMillan lions. From Mr. Baker's 

 notes it is seen that while the captive lions were kept during their 

 stay in Africa in a virtually sunless and rather dark den, in Wash- 

 ington they had abundant access to out-of-doors yards. In view of 

 the success of Mr. Beebe's experiments in increasing the pigmenta- 

 tion in birds by confinement in superhumid atmosphere,^ it would 



1 Zoologica, vol. 1, No. 1. New York, 1907. 



