40 lloyds natural history. 



Sexes of the Cubs. 



Males 8S 



Females ... ... ... ... ... ... So 



Unknown ... ... ... ... ... ... i 



169 



Percentage of males to females 52*4 to 476, or a majority 

 of 4'S males out of every 100. 



When captured sufficiently young, the Lion is one of the 

 most easily-tamed of all the Felidcz — differing very markedly in 

 this respect from its near ally the Tiger — and some of the speci- 

 mens exhibited in menageries have shown a most extraordinary 

 degree of docility. Jardine writes that a Lion exhibited in 

 the early part of the century in Wombell's travelling menagerie, 

 known as Nero, " was of a remarkably mild disposition, and 

 allowed his keepers every liberty ; strangers were frequently 

 introduced into the den, and when in Edinburgh, this was a 

 nightly exhibition, the visitors riding and sitting on his back. 

 Nero, during the while, preserved a look of magnanimous com- 

 posure, and on the entrance or exit of a new visitor, would 

 merely look slowly round. 



" But the most docile Lion which has occurred to our own 

 observation, was one in a travelling menagerie at Amster- 

 dam, where, it may be remarked, all the animals showed a 

 remarkable degree of tameness and familiarity. The Lion 

 alluded to, after being pulled about and made to show his 

 teeth, &c, was required to exhibit; two young men in fancy 

 dresses entered the spacious cage, and in the meantime, the 

 Lion, apparently perfectly aware of what he had to do, walked 

 composedly round. He was now made to jump over a rope 

 held at different heights ; next through a hoop and a barrel 

 and again through the same covered with paper. All this he 

 did freely, compressing himself to go through the narrow space, 



