DANGEROUS ANIMALS OF EUROPE 195 



and wolf, and the total disappearance of the lions 

 from Eastern Europe, are less easily explained. 

 Game in abundance is the first condition for the 

 existence of a creature like the lion. It is clear from 

 Pausanias's account that large game was very plenti- 

 ful in Thrace and Macedon ; there are still deer 

 and wild boars ; and though forests which sheltered 

 the lion in Argos have perished, there are still thick 

 woods on the Macedonian ranges. Natural causes 

 are not enough to account for the disappearance of 

 the lion. It was probably due to organised hunts 

 for his destruction. The ancient myths, in which 

 the names of killers of noted pests are honoured, 

 shows that the lion was an object of dread in ancient 

 Hellas, and Hercules gained credit for ridding the 

 country of the Nemean lion, just as Theseus gained 

 credit for killing off brigands and making the roads 

 safe. The process as it took place in England is 

 known to history. Royal wolf-hunts, in which the 

 King takes the lead, tributes of wolves' heads, and a 

 fixed reward for killing them, destroyed the wolf, and 

 possibly the bear in Britain. Organisations for the 

 destruction of wolves are part of the existing social 

 order in every European country where they survive 

 except Turkey and Greece. In Brittany the office 

 of Grand Louvetier is something more than a pictur- 

 esque survival, and in most cantons of Switzerland 



