LION. 361 



With regard to the lion in India, Mr. Blanf ord states that " there are probably 

 a few still living in the wild tract known as the Gir, in Kattywar, and a few more 

 on the wildest parts of Raj pu tana, especially southern Jodhpur, in Oodeypur, and 

 around Mount Abu. About twenty years ago lions were common near Mount 

 Abu, several were shot near Gwalior, Goona, and Kota, and a few still existed near 

 Lalotpur, between Saugor and Jhansi. One is said to have been killed near Goona 

 in 1873. In 1864 one was killed near Sheorajpur, twenty-five miles west of 

 Allahabad; and when the railway was being made from Allahabad to Jabalpur 

 in 1866, a fine lion, with a good mane, was shot by two of the engineers, near 

 the eightieth milestone from Allahabad. About 1830, lions were common about 

 Ahmedabad. Several years previously, in the early part of the century, lions were 

 found in Humana to the northward, and in Khandesh to the south, in many 

 places in Rajputana (one was shot in 1810, within forty miles of Kot Deji, in 

 Sind), and eastward as far as Rewah and Palamow. It is probable that this 

 animal was formerly generally distributed in North- Western and Central India." 

 A few years will probably witness the extinction of the lion throughout the 

 peninsula. It is noteworthy that the lion, unlike the tiger, has never been known 

 in the Malayan region, or, indeed, anywhere to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal. 



For a long period it was considered that the Indian lion differed from its 

 African relative by the total absence of the mane in the male, which was hence 

 regarded as indicating a distinct species. Moreover, owing to the differences in 

 the length and colour of the manes of African lions from different districts, it was 

 likewise held that there were two or more species in Africa. It, however, has been 

 definitely settled that such variations are - not constant, and that there is but a 

 single species. Although it may be that some adult specimens of the Indian lion 

 are maneless, yet well-maned examples have been killed, while those which were 

 stated to prove the existence of a maneless race are now known to have been 

 immature individuals. 



With regard to the variations of the African lion, Mr. Selous says that the 

 Dutch hunters maintain the existence of from three to four distinct species, which 

 they assert themselves to be capable of recognising. " For my part," adds Mr. 

 Selous, " and judging from my own very limited experience of lions, I cannot see 

 that there is any reason for supposing that more than one species exists, and as 

 out of fifty male lion skins scarcely two will be found exactly alike in the colour 

 and length of the mane, I think it would be as reasonable to suppose that there are 

 twenty species as three. The fact is that between the animal with hardly a 

 vestige of a mane, and the far handsomer but much less common beast, with 

 a long flowing black mane, every possible intermediate variety may be found." 

 It is then stated how the narrator on one occasion shot two old male lions, which 

 he found lying together under the same bush, both of which agreed as near as 

 possible in size, but while the one was full-maned, with a very dark-coloured fur, 

 the other was very yellow and had but little mane. Shortly after, Mr. Selous, 

 with a brother sportsman, again met with a dark, full-maned lion in company with 

 a nearly maneless light-coloured one. Of still more importance is the account by 

 the same hunter of his killing a lioness with three unborn cubs, of which two were 

 males and one a female. " Of the two male cubs," says Mr. Selous, " the one, owing 



