: 



KKLIDJE. 



KELID.E. 



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exhibited in EngUnd u Persian Lion* certainly bear out this remark ; 

 but Captain State observes that the Persian Lion formerly hiMtod 

 at the Surrey Zoological Gardens deemed to him to differ but little 

 from individual* known to ba brought from Africa. 



Persian Lion. 



The Maneless Lion of Guzerat The reader will bear in mind the 

 passage quoted from Pliny (viii. 16), touching lions which have 

 no mane, and of the origin attributed to them. Cuvior notices the 

 statement that maneless lions had been found on the confines of 

 Arabia, and merely refers to Olivier, observing that there is no detailed 

 description given of them. A zoological description is doubtless not 

 to be found in Olivier; but he enters somewhat minutely into the 

 subject, as the reader will here see. " The lion," says Olivier (' Voyage 

 dans 1' Empire Othoman, 1'Egypte, et la Perse,' torn, iv.), " which 

 inhabits the part of Arabia and Persia near the river of the Arabs, 

 from the Persian Gulf to the environs of Helle and of Baghdad, is 

 probably the species of lion of which Aristotle and Pliny have spoken, 

 and which they regarded as a different species from that which is 

 spread over the interior of Africa. The Lion of Arabia has neither 

 the courage, nor the stature, nor even the beauty of the other. When 

 he would seize his prey he has recourse to cunning rather than force ; 

 he crouches among the reeds which border the Tigris and Euphrates, 

 and springs upon all the feeble animals which come there to quench 

 their thirst ; but he dares not to attack the boar, which is very com- 

 mon there, and flies as soon as he perceives a man, a woman, or even 

 a child. If he catches a sheep, he makes off with his prey ; but he 

 abandons it to save himself, when an Arab runs after him. If he is 

 hunted by horsemen, which often happens, he does not defend hiinsel 

 uule he is wounded and has no hope of safety by flight. In such 

 a case he will fly on a man, and tear him to pieces with his claws, for 

 it is courage more than strength that he wants. Acbmed, pasha o 

 Baghdad from 1724 to 1747, would have been torn by one after 

 breaking his lance in a hunt, if hu slave Suleiman, who succeeded 

 him in the pashalik, had not come promptly to his succour, an< 

 pierced with a blow of his yataghan the lion already wounded by his 



tatt 



" We saw," continues Olivier, " five individuals of this race in the 

 menagerie of the pasha of Baghdad ; they had been there five years, 

 and had been taken young in the environs of Bassora. There were 

 three males and two females ; the former were a little larger than the 

 latter ; and all much resembled the African species, excepting tha 

 they were smaller, and had no mane. We were assured that the; 

 never had any, and that no lion of these countries had one. We have 

 often regretted that we did not ask the pasha for two of them, in 

 order to a close comparison with the African species, and to satisfy 

 ourselves whether the Lion of Arabia ought to bo regarded as a species 

 distinct from the other, or as a degenerated race." 



In December 1833, Captain Walter Smee exhibited to a meeting of 

 the Zoological Society of London the skins of a lion and lioness 

 killed by him in Guzerat, and selected from eleven obtained there by 

 him, eight of which he had brought to this country. This lion, he 

 stated, is distinguished from those previously known by the absence of 

 a mane (that is, it is maneless as compared with other lious) from 

 the aides of the neck and shoulders, the middle line of the back of 

 the neck being alone furuuhed with longer hairs, which are erect, like 

 those hi the same situation in the Cheetah (FdujiAala). The under 

 surface of the nock has long loose silky hairs, and there is a tuft at 



lie angle of the anterior legs. Besides the absence of the extensive 

 inane, the tail U shorter than that of ordiimry lions, and in furnished 

 t its tip with a much larger brush or tuft In this tuft there existed 

 n the oldest of Captain 8mee's lions, subsequently to the arrival of 

 he skin in EngUnd, a short homy claw or nail, similar in form to, 

 nit somewhat larger in size than that described by Mr. Woods, and 

 above alluded to. 



Captain Smee, (' Transactions of the Zoological Society,') enters 

 to a very minute description of the arrangement of the hair in this 

 iriety, both in the male and the female, observing that both the 

 African and Guzerat Lion are subject to considerable variations in 

 ntensity of colouring. In both the colour is fulvous ; but in some 

 ndividuals, he says, this is much paler than in others, and in the 

 darker specimens there occurs a tinge of red. The middle of the 

 >ack is the most deeply coloured part, and the under surface is much 

 ttler and almost white. Among the hairs there is an intermixture of 

 lome which are entirely black, and the greater or less proportion 

 which these bear to the paler ones is the principal cause of the 

 variations in depth of colour that occur in different individual!). Of 

 the Guzerat Lions the oldest individual is the lightest in colour. The 

 tail becomes gradually paler towards its extremity, passing into 

 grayish white ; its terminal brush consisting of black hairs slightly 

 ringed with brown. Above each eye is a pale space, in which is 

 included a darker-coloured spot for the implantation of the supra- 

 ciliary vibrisste, from twelve to fifteen iu number, and of which the 

 ongest reaches nearly to the ears. In the African Lion these 

 vibrissic are implanted in a darker spot, but this spot is less dctin, i. 

 and is only partially bounded by a paler space. In both the points 

 of insertion of the moustaches are darker than the surrounding parts. 

 'aptain Smee does not speak with certainty of the comparative form 

 of these two varieties ; but he states his impression to be that the 

 Lion of Guzerat is comparatively more rounded and bulky in its body, 

 and rather shorter in its limbs ; and that its head especially is shorter, 

 bas less of the square form which distinguishes the open face of the 

 male African Lion, and is more rounded on the forehead. But, as he 

 observes, this difference may be chiefly owing to the long hairs which 

 conceal the forehead in the one, while that feature is defined and 

 visible in the other. The cranium of the Lion of Guzerat generally 

 resembles that of the African race. Professor Owen had remarked 

 that the infra-orbital foramina were double in the only lions known to 

 be Asiatic examined by him ; in one, killed in North Guzerat, this 

 occurs on both sides ; iu the other, killed near Assuud, it is found on 

 one side only. Captain Smee states that iu a young skull of the 

 Maueless Lion there exists on one side a double infra-orbital foramen, 

 and that the existaiice of the same structure in another skull contained 

 in one of the skins had been ascertained. A male Maneless Lion 

 killed by Captain Smee measured, including the tail, 8 feet 9( inches 

 in length, and his total weight, exclusive of the entrails, was 35 stone 

 (14 Ibs. to the stone) ; the impression of his paw on the sand measured 

 o'i inches across, and hU height was 3 1'cct li inches. A female 

 killed at the same time was 8 feet 7 inches long and 3 feet 4 inches 

 high. 



These Muueless Lious are, according to the author hist quoted, 

 found in Guzerat along the banks of the Sombcnuuttee near 

 Ahmedabad. During the hot months they inhabit the low bushy 

 wooded plains that skirt the lihardur and Soinhi'miiittoe rivers fr.uii 

 Ahmedabud to the borders of Cutch, being driven out of the large 

 adjoining tracts of high gross jungle (called Bheers) by the practice 

 annually resorted to by the natives of setting fire to the grass, in 

 order to clear it and ensure a succession of young shoots for the food 

 of the cattle upon the first fall of the rains. They extend through a 

 range of country about 40 miles in length, including various villages, 

 and among others those of Booroo and (Juliana, near which Captain 

 Smee killed his finest specimens. They were so common iu this 

 district that ho killed no fewer than eleven during a residence of 

 about a month ; yet scarcely any of the natives, except the cattle- 

 keepers, had seen them previously to his coming among them. The 

 cattle were frequently carried off or destroyed, but this they attributed 

 to tigers. Captain Smee however observes, that the tiger does not 

 exist iu that part of the country. Those natives to whom the lions 

 were known gave them the name of Ontiah Baug, or Camel-Tiger, an 

 appellation derived from their resemblance in colour to the cam. I. 

 They appear to be very destructive to the domesticated cattle, and 

 the remains of a considerable number of carcasses of bullocks were 

 found near the place where Captain Smee's specimens were killed. 

 About ten days previously, four donkeys had been destroyed at the 

 village of Cashwah. Captain Smee could not learn that men had 

 been attacked by them. When struck by a ball, they exhibited 

 great boldness, standing as if preparing to resist their pursuers, and 

 then goiug off slowly and in a very sullen manner; unlike the tiger, 

 which on such occasions retreats springing and snarling. Captain 

 Smee states that these lions are also found on the Kiiiiu near Huupoor, 

 and near Puttun in Guzerat, and that some persons who saw them in 

 Bombay said that they also occur in Sinde and in Persia. He further 

 observe*, that should subsequent inquiries prove that Olivier was 

 correctly informed a* to the locality from which the Maneless Lions 

 seen by him at Baghdad were obtained, and prove also their identity 

 with those of Gtuurat, a more extensive geographical range will be 



