266 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



of the coat, the spots on the feet, and the comparative 

 size of the animals. For my part, and judging from 

 my own very limited experience of lions, I cannot see 

 that there is any reason for supposing that more than 

 one species exists, and as out of fifty male lion skins 

 scarcely two will be found exactly alike in the colour 

 and length of the mane, I think it would be as reason- 

 able to suppose that there are twenty species as three. 

 The fact is, that between the animal with hardly a 

 vestige of a mane, and the far handsomer but much 

 less common beast with a long flowing black mane, 

 every possible intermediate variety may be found. 

 This I say emphatically, after having seen a great 

 many skins, and I entirely deny that three well- 

 marked and constant varieties exist. On June 6, 

 1879, I came across two fine old male lions on the 

 Mababe flat, lying together under the same bush, 

 and shot them both. One was a fuU-maned lion with 

 a very dark-coloured skin, the other a very light- 

 coloured animal with scarcely any mane at all. In 

 size they were as nearly as possible equal, the skins, 

 when pegged out, measuring 10 feet 10 inches and 10 

 feet 9 inches respectively. A few months afterwards 

 Mr. H. C. Collison and myself again came across 

 two lions, the one dark-coloured, with a full, blackish 

 mane, the other a yellow-looking animal with but 

 little mane. A day or two later we shot two lion- 

 esses. The one killed by my friend carried in her 

 womb three cubs (two males and a female) that 

 would probably have seen the light a few hours later. 

 Of the two male cubs the one, owing to the dark 

 colour of the tips of the hairs, was almost black, 

 whilst the other was reddish yellow. The skin of 

 the female cub was also of a light colour. Now, I 

 firmly believe that the two male cubs would have 



