594 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



The mane of the lion forms a good defense against the 

 attacks of rival lions, the one danger to which he is liable; 

 for the males, as Sir A. Smith informs me, engage in ter- 

 rible battles, and a young lion dares not approach an 

 old one. In 1857 a tiger at Bromwich broke into the cage 

 of a lion and a fearful scene ensued; "the lion's mane 

 saved his neck and head from being much injured, but the 

 tiger at last succeeded in ripping up his belly, and in a few 

 minutes he was dead." * The broad ruff round the throat 

 and chin of the Canadian lynx (Fells canadensis) is much 

 longer in the male than in the female; but whether it 

 serves as a defense I do not know. Male seals are well 

 known to fight desperately together, and the males of cer- 

 tain kinds (Otaria jubata) \ have great manes, while the 

 females have small ones or none. The male baboon of 

 the Cape of Good Hope (Cynoceplialus porcarius) has a 

 much longer mane and larger canine teeth than the female; 

 and the mane probably serves as a protection, for, on 

 asking the keepers in the Zoological Gardens, without 

 giving them any clew to my object, whether any of the 

 monkeys especially attacked each other by the nape of the 

 neck, I was answered that this was not the case, except 

 with the above baboon. In the Hamadryas baboon, 

 Ehrenberg compares the mane of the adult male to that of 

 a young lion, while in the young of both sexes and in the 

 female the mane is almost absent. 



It appeared to me probable that the immense woolly 

 mane of the male American bison, which reaches almost to 

 the ground, and is much more developed in the males than 

 in the females, served as a protection to them in their ter- 

 rible battles; but an experienced hunter told Judge Caton 

 that he had never observed anything which favored this 

 belief. The stallion has a thicker and fuller mane than 

 the mare; and I have made particular inquiries of two great 

 trainers and breeders, who have had charge of many 

 entire horses, and am assured that they " invariably 



* ". The Times," Nov. 10, 1857. In regard to the Canada lynx, see 

 Audubon and Backman, "Quadrupeds of North America," 1846, p. 

 139. 



f Dr. Murie, on Otaria, "Proc. Zoolog. Soc.," 1869, p. 109. Mr. 

 J. A. Allen, in the paper above quoted (p. 75). doubts whether the 

 hair, which is longer on the neck in the male than in the female^ 

 deserves to be called a mane. 



