266 flint's natural history. [Book VIII. 



until, after having produced one only, she ceases to hear.*^ 

 The young ones, when first born, are shapeless and extremely 

 small in flesh, being no larger than a weasel ; for six months 

 they are scarcely able to walk,^^ and until they are two months 

 old, they cannot move. Lions, he says, are found in Europe, 

 but only between the rivers Achelous and jS'estus ; being much 

 superior in strength to those which are produced in Africa or 



CHAP. 18. THE DIFFEEENT SPECIES OF LIONS. 



There are two species of lions ; in the one the body is shorter 

 and more compact, and the mane more crisp and curly f^ these 

 are more timid than those with a longer body and straight hair, 

 which, in fact, have no fear of wounds. The males raise the 

 leg like the dog, when they pass their urine f^ which has a 

 most disagreeable odour, the same being the case too with their 

 breath. They seldom drink, and only take food every other 

 day ;^ when they have gorged themselves, they will sometimes 



3^ The account here given of the lioness generally, Aristotle gives re- 

 specting the Syrian lioness only, Hist. Anim. B. \\. c. 31 ; there is some 

 reason to believe that Aristotle is not correct in what he says. The ac- 

 count given by ^Uan, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 33, is nearly the same with 

 that of Pliny.— B. 



9^ There is much in this account that is incorrect. It is well ascertained 

 that the cubs of the lion are proportionably as large and as perfectly formed 

 as the young of other animals that belong to the same family. — B. 



97 Herodotus, B. vii. c. 126, and Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, 

 give a similar account of the district in which lions are found, — B. Littre 

 remarks, that this statement of Pliny is probably formed, as originally 

 suggested by M. Maury, upon the fact, that the lions of Europe, as we 

 learn from Herodotus, attacked the camels of Xerxes, on his invasion of 

 Europe. 



^s Cuvier remarks, that we have no knowledge of the lion with curled 

 hair, so frequently spoken of by the ancients. He suggests that there may 

 have been a peculiar variety between the rivers Achelous and Nestus or 

 Mestus, or perhaps, more probably, that it was altogether imaginary. He 

 states also, tliat we no longer see lions without manes, but that Olivier 

 had seen some at Bagdat. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 44, speaks of 

 the two species of lions, and describes them nearly as Pliny has done. — B. 



^"^ According to Cuvier, this is not the case ; the lion passes its urine 

 just as the other animals of the same family. Pliny again refers to the 

 odour of the lion's breath, in B. xi. c. 115. — B. 



1 The lion, like other carnivorous animals, is able to receive a large quan- 

 tity of food into the stomach, and to remain for a proportionably longer 



i 



