IV EFFECT OF COLD ON LION'S MANE 8i 



figured by Captain (afterwards Sir Cornwallis) 

 Harris so adorned, but there is now in the Junior 

 United Service Club in London a mounted speci- 

 men of a South African Hon with not only an 

 extraordinary wealth of mane covering the whole 

 of the fore-part of the body, but also with a thick 

 growth of long hair all over its belly. This lion 

 is said to have been killed near the Orange river 

 about 1830, probably, I should think, on the 

 bontebok flats, near Colesberg, in the Cape Colony, 

 though possibly on the plains to the north of the 

 river. Now, personally I believe that cold has 

 more to do with the development of a lion's 

 mane than anything else. The winter cold of the 

 high plateaus of the Cape Colony, the Orange 

 Colony, and the Southern Transvaal is much 

 more severe than in any part of Africa where 

 lions exist to-day, and Harris's drawings and the 

 mounted specimen of the lion I have above referred 

 to, which was killed near the Orange river long- 

 ago, show that wild lions sometimes attained very 

 profuse manes and had their bellies covered with 

 long hair in that part of Africa. To-day, lions with 

 really fine manes are never found except in countries 

 where the nights are cold during the winter months, 

 such as the Athi plains, the Uas N'gishu plateau, 

 the high downs of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, 

 and the Haud of Somaliland, as well as other 

 elevated regions. In the Pungwe river district 

 some few lions attain fairly good, but never, I 

 believe, extraordinarily profuse manes. Only a 

 certain proportion of the lions found on high and 

 cold plateaus have, however, fine long dark manes. 

 Many have very poor manes, but it seems to me 

 impossible that there can be more than one species 

 of lion in so confined an area. In the hotter parts 

 of Africa, lying below the level of the more elevated 

 plateaus, I think I am correct in saying that lions 



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