264 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VIII. 



animal known as the bonasus ; 89 it has the mane of the horse, 

 but is, in other respects, like the bull, with horns, however, so 

 much bent inwards upon each other, as to be of no use for the 

 purposes of combat. It has therefore to depend upon its 

 flight, and, while in the act of flying, it sends forth its excre- 

 ments, sometimes to a distance of even three jugera j 90 the 

 contact of which burns those who pursue the animal, just like 

 a kind of fire. 



CHAP. 17. LIONS ; HOW THEY ABE PRODUCED. 



It is a remarkable fact, that pards, 91 panthers, lions, and 

 other animals of this kind, walk with the points of their nails 

 concealed in a sheath in the body, lest they should be broken 

 or blunted ; and that, when they run, their hooked claws are 

 turned backwards, and are never extended, except in the act of 

 seizing their prey. 92 



(16.) The noble appearance of the lion is more especially to be 

 seen in that species which has the neck and shoulders covered 

 with a mane, which is always acquired at the proper age by 

 those produced from a lion ; while, on the other hand, those 

 that are the offspring of the pard, are always without this dis- 

 tinction. The female also has no mane. The sexual passions of 

 these animals are very violent, and render the male quite furious. 

 This is especially the case in Africa, where, in consequence 

 of the great scarcity of water, the wild beasts assemble in 

 great numbers on the banks of a few rivers. This is also the 

 reason why so many curious varieties of animals are produced 



89 Pliny's account is from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 45, but, as is 

 often the case, with considerable exaggerations. Aristotle says, that these 

 animals eject their excrements to a distance of four feet, and that it is of 

 so acrid a nature, as to cause the hair of the dog to fall off. The word 

 jugerum is generally used as a measure of superficial surface. B. 



90 Pliny here renders the Greek TrXIflpoj/, by "jugerum," which is 

 ordinarily a measure of superficies. In the present case, therefore, it must 

 mean a measure of length, of 100 Grecian, or 104 Roman feet. 



91 The pard of Pliny, as we shall find stated below, is the male of the 

 panther. 



92 Cuvier remarks, that all the feline animals have retractile claws, drawn 

 by an elastic ligament into a sheath, and protruded when required for the 

 purpose of prehension. The sheath is formed of a duplicature or fold of 

 the skin and the subjacent cellular membrane. 3. 



