362 THE CARNIVORES 



three years of age, and continues to grow until the age of about six years. Al- 

 though the full length of the period of a lion's life does not appear known, it has 

 been ascertained that they will live to thirty, and it is said even to forty years. 



Owing to the circumstance that the measurements of lions are frequently taken 

 from skins, exaggerated notions of the length attained by large males have ob- 

 tained currency. Mr. Blanford states that a male presumably an Indian specimen 

 measured 8 feet 10 inches from the tip of the muzzle to the tip of the tail ; 2 feet 

 1 1 inches of this being occupied by the tail alone. Mr. Selous, writing of South 

 African lions, observes that " the following are the lengths of the pegged-out skins 

 of six full-grown males shot by myself, and carefully measured with a tapeline : 

 viz., 10 feet 3 inches, 10 feet 6 inches, 10 feet 9 inches, 10 feet 10 inches, 9 feet 7 

 inches, and 1 1 feet i inch. These are the lengths of the skins after being pegged 

 out and stretched out to a certain extent. However, after having flayed it, I care- 

 fully measured the naked carcass of the largest lion. From the top of the front 

 teeth to the end of the tail it measured 9 feet 7 inches, laying the tape along the 

 curves of the body, and as all the gristle and meat of the nose had been cut away 

 with the skin, and at least an inch must have been lost with the tuft at the end of 

 the tail, I think it would have measured all but 10 feet before it was skinned, even 

 without making any allowance for the mane. ' ' Although Cornwallis Harris gave 

 10 feet 6 inches as the length of a large lion, Mr. Selous' s estimate may be provision- 

 ally taken as representing the full size of the African type. Females are generally 

 about i foot shorter than males. There is a dearth of information as to the height 

 of a full-grown lion at the shoulder ; but Mr. Blanford tells us that one measuring 8 

 feet gy z inches in length, had a height of 3 feet 6 inches. A fine menagerie lion re- 

 cently measured had a total length of 10 feet, of which the tail occupied 3 feet 2 

 inches. 



Still more imperfect is the information relating to the weight of lions. Mr. 

 Selous states that an African lion in poor condition shot in 1877 weighed 376 

 pounds ; but a fine, well-nourished example killed later on weighed 500 pounds. 

 This weight is, however, exceeded by a male shot in the Orange Free State in 1865, 

 which on good evidence is reported to have weighed over 583 pounds. The men- 

 agerie specimen, of which the dimensions are given above, weighed 434 pounds. 

 Sir Samuel Baker is of opinion that a lion would weigh more than a tiger of the 

 same approximate dimensions ; but against this may be set the opinion of Mr. 

 Blanford, who considers that a tiger, although standing lower than a lion, is heavier 

 in the body and more powerful. 



Before entering upon the consideration of the geographical distribution and 

 habits of the lion, it may be well to point out how the skull of a lion may be 

 readily distinguished from that of a tiger. In a lion's skull the so-called nasal 

 bones, or those forming the roof of the cavity of the nose, have their superior ter- 

 mination on the forehead situated in the same transverse line as the terminations 

 of the upper jawbones or maxillae. In the skull of a tiger on the other hand, the 

 upper extremities of the nasal bones extend considerably higher up on the forehead 

 than do those of the upper jawbones. The skull of a lion may also be distinguished 

 from that of a tiger by the much smaller size of the tubercle on the inner side of 



