THE LION 365 



they assert themselves to be capable of recognizing. " For my part," adds Mr. 

 Selous, "and judging from my own very limited experience of lions, I cannot see 

 that there is any reason for supposing that more than one species exists, and as 

 out of fifty male lion skins scarcely two will be found exactly alike in the color and 

 length of the mane, I think it would be as reasonable to suppose that there are 

 twenty species as three. The fact is that between the animal with hardly a vestige 

 of a mane, and the far handsomer but much less common beast, with a long flowing 

 black mane, every possible intermediate variety may be found." It is then stated 

 how the narrator on one occasion shot two old male lions, which he found lying 

 together under the same bush, both of which agreed as near as possible in size, but 

 while the one was full maned, with a very dark-colored fur, the other was very 

 yellow and had but little mane. Shortly after, Mr. Selous, with a brother sports- 

 man, again met with a dark, full-maned lion in company with a nearly maneless 

 light-colored one. Of still more importance is the account by the same hunter 

 of his killing a lioness with three unborn cubs, of which two were males and one a 

 female. "Of the two male cubs," says Mr. Selous, "the one, owing to the dark 

 color of the tips of the hair, was almost black, while the other was reddish yellow. 

 The skin of the female cub was also of a light color. Now I firmly believe that the 

 two male cubs would have grown up, the one into a dark-skinned, black-maned 

 lion, the other into a yellow lion, with but little mane ; and further than this, I 

 believe that the two pairs of males I have mentioned above were cubs of the same 

 litters, and had been hunting in couples since their cubhood." These observations, 

 which have been supplemented by others made on captive specimens, may be con- 

 sidered to definitely settle the question as to the specific unity of all African lions. 



In spite, however, of the impossibility of specifically distinguishing between 

 lions of different coloration, or between those inhabiting different regions of the 

 country, it seems quite probable that the lions of one district may differ to a certain 

 extent in some respects from those of another. Thus it seems pretty well ascer- 

 tained that the lions from the Cape and Algeria have, collectively, larger and finer 

 manes than those from other districts. Moreover, Gordon Cumming states that the 

 manes and coats of lions inhabiting open, treeless districts, like the great Kalahari 

 desert of South Africa, are fuller and handsomer than in those inhabiting forest dis- 

 tricts. It has hence been considered that the manes of forest-dwelling lions are re- 

 duced in thickness by being torn by thorns and bushes. This theory is, however, 

 considered untenable by Mr. Selous, who states that the lions of the open plateaux of 

 Matabeleland and Mashonaland, where scarcely a thorn bush is to be seen, exhibit 

 every degree of variation in regard to the length and color of their manes, and that 

 a similar variation holds good for the Tati country, which is thickly covered with 

 thorn- jungle. The variation in the length of the mane seems, therefore, at present 

 not accounted for. 



Before leaving this subject, it may be mentioned that, according to the experi- 

 ences of the hunter from whom we have already so largely quoted, that wild lions 

 at least in the districts over which he shot never have such long and heavy manes 

 or such good coats as the majority of those met with in European menageries. 

 Moreover, while all the wild lions with good manes, which came under the notice of 



