ASIATIC LION. 



iiiciuner. Although the wound has healed kmdly, and to all appearance has left 

 no evil results except the honom-able scar, yet that wound has broken out afresh 

 on the anniversary of the time when it was inflicted. There is probably 

 some poisonous influence upon the Lion's tooth by which this effect is produced, 

 for it has been recorded that two men have been attacked by the same Lion, one 

 of whom, who was bitten upon his bare limb, suffered from the annual affliction, 

 while the other, whose limb was protected by his coat, felt no after inconvenience 

 of a similar nature from the bite of the same animal. 



The young of the Lion arc various in number, sometimes amounting to three 

 or four at a birth, thus entirely contradicting the well-known fable of the Lioness 

 and Fox. For some time the young Lion cubs present a cm'ious appearance, 

 their fur being faintly brindled in a manner very similar to that of the tiger, or, 

 to give a more familiar illustration, resembling the coat of a tabby cat, Acry 

 indistinctly marked ujwn a light tawny ground. These faint brindlings are 

 retained for some months, when they gradually fade into the deeper brown which 

 tinges the tawny fur, and after awhile become wholly merged in the darker hue. 

 I have obsei-ved a similar absoi-jition of the brindled markings in a kitten. In its 

 earliest youth, it was of a lightish brown, marked with tolerably detined stripes ; 

 but as it grew older, the dark sti-eaks gradually became more faint, and, when 

 the animal was about three months old, vanislied entirely. 



A cub-lion is quite as playful an animal as a kitten, and is just as ready to romp 

 with any one who may encourage its little wanton humoi-s. Only it is hardly so 

 safe a playfellow, for the very small Lion is as large as a very big cat, and some- 

 times becomes rather impleasantly rough in its gamesomeness. It has no idea of 

 the power of its stroke, and if it should deal a playful blow with its claws 

 protruded, is apt to do damage which it never intended. 



The weight of a Lion-cub is extraordinary in comparison with its size. I have 

 personally tested the weight of several cubs, and was surprised at the massive build 

 of the little creatures. Their bones arc very large, and the nmscular system very 

 solid, so that a cub which about equals a large cat in actual measurement, far 

 exceeds that animal in weight. The growth of the young Lion is very slow, three 

 or fom- years elapsing before he can lay claim to the full honours of Lionhood, 

 and shake his tawny name in conscious strength. 



The animal which is represented in the preceding })age is the Maneless Lion ot 

 Asia. This animal possesses a very scanty allowance of that longheavy mass of hair 

 which decorates the African Lion. Alf Lions may be distinguished from any 

 other of the cat tribe bv the black tuft of hair at the end of the tail 



