360 THE CARNIVORES 



member of the family the rusty-spotted cat of India is inferior in dimensions to 

 the common domestic cat. 



The total number of living species of the genus Felts may probably be reckoned 

 at or about forty-one ; and these have a distribution in space nearly coextensive with 

 that of the entire order of Carnivores. They do not, however, extend so far north- 

 ward as do the bears and the Dog family ; and they are totally unknown in the 

 island of Madagascar. The greater number of species more especially those of 

 larger size are found chiefly in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe ; 

 but the evidence of geology proves that the geographical range of some of these 

 species was much more extensive at an earlier period than is the case at the present 

 time. In respect of diet, the cats are purely carnivorous, and although when 

 pressed by hunger some of them are known to eat the flesh of any dead animal they 

 may come across, as a normal rule they kill their own prey. This is always effected 

 by cautious stalking, followed by a sudden final rush ; and, although it is said that 

 two or more lions will occasionally combine to drive game in a given direction, when 

 it can be seized by another member of. the party, the cats almost invariably pursue 

 their prey alone. The general antipathy of the cat tribe to water is proverbial, but 

 in the swampy sandarbans of Lower Bengal, the tiger has often been observed swim- 

 ming from one marshy island to another ; and the fishing cat of India largely sub- 

 sists on fresh-water fish captured by itself. 



THE L,ION (Felis leo) 



Till well on in the present century the title of "King of Beasts" was almost 

 universally bestowed upon the lion by writers on natural history, on account of its 

 generally majestic appearance, and the assumed nobility and fierceness of its charac- 

 ter. Of late years, however, there has been a strong tendency on the part of those 

 who have had the best opportunities of observing the animal in its native haunts, to 

 depose the lion from the proud position it has so long occupied. The reasons for 

 this change of view appear to be that when roaming abroad by daylight the lion, as 

 Mr. F. C. Selous, the well-known African hunter, informs us, does not carry 

 his head so high up as he ought to in order to be entitled to the epithet majestic ; 

 while his disposition, instead of being noble and fearless, is considered by Living- 

 stone and other writers to be more correctly described as cowardly and mean. Al- 

 though it is impossible to doubt the accuracy of such observations as to its true 

 character, yet the magnificent proportions of the animal, coupled with the splendid 

 mane decorating the head and chest of the males, render the lion by far the most 

 striking in appearance of the whole of the cat tribe, and, indeed, of all the Carni- 

 vores. 



In common with the other large cats of the Old World, the lion has the pupil of 

 the eye circular ; but it is at once distinguished from all the other members of the 

 family by the long hair growing on the head, neck, and shoulders of the males to 

 form the flowing mane. This mane varies considerably in size and color in different 

 individuals, but, contrary to what has often been stated, is present in Indian as well 

 as in African lions. Frequently, although by no means invariably, the long hair of 



