414 CAT TRIBE 



of two trenchant lobes. All the members of the family walk entirely 

 upon their toes, and are accordingly termed digitigrade ; the front-toes 

 being four and the hind ones five in number. 



In the more typical members of the family, that is to say, all 

 except the hunting-leopard, the claws are capable of complete retraction 

 within protective sheaths. The general appearance of these animals 

 being well known, need not be described in this place ; while a brief 

 summary of the external characteristics of the lion will suffice. 



The lion, one of the two largest members of the Felzdce, is typically 

 distinguished by the absence of spots or stripes in the adult, the mane 

 of long hair on the head and fore-quarters of the male, and the tuft of 

 hair at the tip of the tail, in which is concealed a small nail-like 

 appendage of unknown use. The tail-tuft is always black, as are the 

 bases of the ears, but it is only in some males that the tips of the hairs 

 of the mane are black : individuals with dark and light manes occurrinor 

 in the same litter. The young generally show dark spots ; and in 

 East African lions spots may be retained on the limbs, under-parts, 

 and flanks throughout life, especially in the lioness. In the Somali lion 

 {Felis leo souialiensis), which is a small and frequently greyish animal, 

 these spots are, at best, faint ; but in the female of the Masai lion 

 {^F. I. masaicd), fig. 90, of German East Africa, they may be strongly 

 marked. Lions extend from Africa through Syria and Persia to India, 

 where they are now restricted to the Gir Forest of the Khatiawar 

 district. When adult they do not, as a rule, climb ; and they are the 

 most noisy of the cat tribe, roaring in districts where they are little 

 disturbed throughout the night. Chiefly nocturnal, they prefer more 

 or less open sandy districts ; and their prey includes antelopes, zebras, 

 pigs, and sometimes giraffes. Old lions feed on the smaller domesti- 

 cated animals, and carrion is seldom refused by any lion. 



In the skull of the lion the upper extremities of the nasal bones 

 and of the upper jaw-bones, or maxillae, are nearly in a horizontal line ; 

 whereas in the tiger the nasals extend considerably higher up on the 

 forehead than the maxillse. The lower jaw of the lion is convex 

 inferiorly so that it will rest on a horizontal surface ; while that of the 

 tiger is concave in the middle so that it rests on the two extremities. 



As already mentioned, lions from East Africa retain more or less 

 distinct traces of the spots of their childhood even when full grown ; 

 and it is thus quite evident that both lions and pumas are descended 

 from fully spotted ancestors. By an examination of the form and 

 arrangement of the spotting in the cubs of the two species, Mr. R. I. 

 Pocock, in the Afinals and Magazine of Natural History for 1908 



