86 Wild Beasts 



these endowments of their race the finest personal traits. 

 More than one species of this genus exists, and an average 

 lion is about twelve or thirteen feet long. He is less keen 

 of sight, and has not so good an organ of scent as other 

 beasts of prey, and for this reason lions make use of jack- 

 als in hunting. All animals they pursue live upon the 

 ground, and in consequence it is not customary with them 

 to climb trees like the tiger and puma — '^ il ne grimpe pas 

 S7ir les arbres cotmne le tigre on le ptnna!' Their attack 

 is always made from an ambush, whence the victim is 

 sprung upon and struck down ; but it is not devoured 

 until after life is extinct. 



All this, it may be repeated, is erroneous. Climate 

 alone does not form geographical varieties. Species re- 

 quire to be adjusted to the whole physiography of their 

 respective regions, and to their organic environments as 

 well. The lion inhabits temperate latitudes where the 

 weather is often cold, and it is on those parallels which 

 in Africa run north and south of the equatorial belt, that 

 he attains his highest development. 



With respect to the lion of the Atlas, Major Leveson 

 (" Hunting Grounds of the Old World "), General Daumas 

 ("Les Chevaux du Sahara "), and Gerard {"Journal des 

 Chasseurs ") have shown that it is larger than its congener 

 further south. Buffon's thirteen feet lions belong to an 

 earlier geological period than ours ; no such specimens of 

 the cat kind are at present alive, but his tribute to the 

 courage of the king of beasts is not perhaps altogether un- 

 deserved. Of course there is nothing in his remarks 

 about magnanimity and the like, and as for a single lion 



