292 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



exhibited by the leonine remains found in the ancient dwelling 

 places of the Postglacial men in Aurignac and La Madeleine. This 

 is probably a correct supposition; for neither was the temperature 

 unsuited for its continued existence nor had the supply of food 

 failed." 



Asiatic Lion; Indian Lion 



LEO LEO PERSICUS (Meyer) 



Felis leo persicus Meyer, Dissertatio inauguralis anatomico-medica de genere 



Felium [Vienna], p. 6, 1826. (Persia.) 



SYNONYMS: Felis leo goojratensis Smee (1833); Leo asiaticus Jardine (1834). 

 FIGS.: Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 1, pi. 24, 1834; Jardine's Nat. Libr., 



vol. 15, Mammalia, pi. 11, 1842; Elliot, 1883, pi. 1, upper right-hand fig.; 



Pocock, 1930, pis. 1-3. 



This Lion, once widely distributed from Asia Minor, Palestine, 

 and Arabia to Persia and India, is now almost or entirely reduced 

 to a small remnant in the Province of Kathiawar, in western India. 

 There may be also a few solitary survivors in Persia and Iraq, but 

 this is doubtful. 



"On the average, the Indian lion has a scantier mane than the 

 African and, curiously enough, ... a fuller coat, a longer tassel 

 of hair at the end of the tail, a more pronounced tuft of hair on 

 the elbow joints and a fuller fringe of hairs on the belly. In size, 

 there is little to choose between the two. . . . The largest recorded 

 measurement of an Indian lion is 9 ft. 7 in., of an African lion 

 10 ft. 7 in." (Anonymous, 1935, p. 123.) 



Asia Minor. In 1878 or 1879 Sheik Mustapha informed Danford 

 "that five years ago a Lion appeared near Biledjik [on the Euphrates 

 toward the Syrian border], and after destroying many horses was 

 done to death" (Danford and Alston, 1880, p. 53). This is the only 

 definite locality record I have found for Asia Minor. 



Syria, Palestine, and Arabia. "The Lion has long been extinct 

 in Palestine, and among the inhabitants there is no tradition of its 

 existence. Yet of its former abundance there can be no question. 

 It is mentioned about 130 times in Scripture .... Within the 

 historic period it was common in Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. 

 ... It seems to have disappeared altogether from Palestine about 

 the time of the Crusades, the last mention of it being by writers of 

 the twelfth century, when it still existed near Samaria. ... It can 

 scarcely be said now to exist in Asia west of the Euphrates, unless 

 in Arabia, the latest trace being that a few years ago the carcase of 

 one was brought into Damascus. . . . The Arabs state it is found 

 in Arabia." (Tristram, 1884, p. 17.) 



According to the Old Testament, the Lion was found in Lebanon 



