NO. 2196. EFFECTS OF ENVfliOXMUNT ON LIONS— UOLLIHTER. 183 



perhaps seem unnecessary to go beyond the theory that the humid 

 climate of Washington has acted in a similar manner on these lions 

 from the highlands of East Africa. The effect has been to change 

 the color of living examples of Felis leo massaica to a darker color 

 very much resembling that of Felis leo nyanzm^ the lion of the more 

 humid Victoria Nyanza region. 



While the data available do not show very great difference in mean 

 relative humidity between the weather station at Machakos, British 

 East Africa (near where the lions were captured), and Washing- 

 ton, District of Columbia, the average monthly precipitation at 

 Washington for a term of years is considerably greater. At En- 

 tebbe, Uganda (near the type-localit}'- of Felis leo nyatizai)^ both 

 mean relative humidity and monthly precipitation are higher than 

 in Washington or in the British East African range of Fells leo 

 massaica. The problem is so complex and there are so many possi- 

 ble factors which are little understood, that it seems unwise to hazard 

 a positive opinion on the cause of the great color change in the 

 McMillan lions. Alterations in the quality of light to which the 

 animals were exposed, as well as the changes in the conditions of 

 metabolism due to a life in captivity under abnormal treatment and 

 diet, are factors that must be considered. 



Mr. F. C. Selous,^ after writing of the variability of the mane in 

 lions apparently adult, says: 



Quite recently there was a fine lion in tlie Zoological Society's Gardens at 

 Regent's Park which was presented by Messrs. Grogan and Sharpe. This 

 animal was caught near the Pungwe River, in southeast Africa, and brought 

 to England by these gentlemen when quite a small cub. When full grown 

 it developed a very much finer mane than I believe has ever been seen in a wild 

 lion that has come to maturity in the part of Africa from which it was 

 brought. Similarly, some 30 years ago there was a very fine lion in the So- 

 ciety's Gardens which was brought by Colonel Knox from the Soudan. Colonel 

 Knox took me to the Gardens to see this animal, and pointed out to me the 

 fact that it had developed a far finer mane (extending much farther back over 

 the shoulders and under the belly) than any man had ever seen in a wild lion 

 in the country from which it came. Lion cubs brought to this country from 

 India also grow fine manes, though I do not think that there is any record of a 

 lion ever having been shot in India with anything more than a fairly good 

 mane. The fact that lion cubs captured in any part of Africa or Asia, and 

 brought up in the comparatively cool and damp climate of western Europe, 

 always — or nearly always — grow fine manes, which usually cover the whole 

 shoulders and often extend all over the undersurface of the body, and the 

 further fact that in the hotter parts of Africa lions always have very scanty 

 manes, but on the high, cold plateaus often develop good, and occasionally very 

 luxuriant manes, appears to me to show that a heavily maned lion is a reversion 

 to an ancient ancestral type, first evolved in Pleistocene times In a coid and 

 inclement climate. 



» African Nature Notes and Reminiscences, pp. 83, 84. 190S. 



