XIII DIVERSITY OF TYPES 267 



grown up, the one into a dark-skinned, black-maned 

 lion, the other into a yellow lion with but little mane ; 

 and further than this, I believe that the two pairs of 

 males I have mentioned above were cubs of the same 

 litters, and had been hunting in company since their 

 cubhood. This is only surmise, but the Bushmen 

 bore me out in my opinion, saying, when I told them 

 what I thought, " Yes, that is true ; we knew them 

 well ; they are children of one mother." How to 

 account for the variation in the length and colour of the 

 mane in different individual lions 1 do not know. The 

 theory, that it depends upon the density and thorni- 

 ness of the jungles they inhabit, which pulls out and 

 destroys their manes to a greater or lesser extent, I 

 do not consider tenable, as on the high open plateaus 

 of the Matabele and Mashuna countries, where 

 scarcely a thorn-bush is to be seen, lions of every 

 variety as regards length and colour of mane are to 

 be found, and the same variations also occur amongst 

 those found in the neighbourhood of the Tati, where 

 the country is for the most part covered with thick 

 thorny jungles. I have never seen the skin of a wild 

 lion with a mane equal in length to that attained by 

 the greater part of the lions one sees in menageries. 

 All wild lions with a full mane have two small tufts 

 of hair, one on the elbow, and the other in the 

 armpit ; but I never yet saw one with any long hair 

 along the belly, between the forearm and the flank, 

 as may be seen in almost all menagerie lions in this 

 country. I do not say that cases do not occur of 

 wild lions becoming equally hairy, but they must be 

 very rare, otherwise I should have met with some 

 amongst the large number of skins I have seen. The 

 coat of the wild lion is very short and close, whilst 

 that of lions kept in this country becomes very much 



