CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARN1VORA. 



253 



MEETING OF THE LIONS. — (See p. 249.) 



Gerard thus speaks on this subject: "When a lion and a lioness are together, the female always 

 roars first, and at the moment when the couple is leaving its lair. The roar is composed of a 

 dozen distinct sounds, which are commenced l>y low sighing, and then go on crescendo, and finish 

 as they began, leaving an interval of a few seconds between each sound; the lion then alternates 

 '.vith the lioness. They roar in that manner every quarter of an hour up to the moment when 

 they approach the encampment that they are about to attack, when they both keep silence; but 

 ifter they have taken and eaten their food, they recommence their melancholy music and con- 

 tinue it until morning. 



H A solitary lion generally roars as he rises from his slumber at the commencement of the 

 tight, and will often continue his thundering challenges without cessation until he reaches the 

 ncampments. During the great heats of summer the lion roars but little, and sometimes not at 

 II; but as the season of his amours advances, he makes up for the time lost in silence. The 

 Irabs, whose language is rich in comparisons, have but one word for the roaring of the lion, and 

 bat is rod, thunder. 

 "Among other foolish questions I have had asked me, is : ' Why does the lion roar V I would 

 iy that the roaring of the lion is to him what to the bird is his musical song, and if the (pus- 

 oner does not believe the fact, if he will go to the forests and pass several years in his company, 

 e may perchance find a better explanation." We may add that many authors have supposed 

 tat the roaring of the lion was instinctive, its main object being to startle the animals on which 

 ' wishes to prey, from their hiding-places, so that he may see them, and in their confusion fall 

 ion and seize them. 



The author we have just quoted furnishes the following curious statistics : "The average length 

 the life of the lion is from thirty to forty years. He kills or consumes, year by year, hoi 

 ales, horned cattle, camels, and sheep, to the value of twelve hundred dollars; and taking the 

 erage of his life, which is thirty-five years, each lion costs the Arabs forty-tw6 thousand dollars, 

 ic thirty animals of this species living at the present moment, in the province of Constantino, and 

 lose loss is replaced by others coming from Tunis or Morocco, are sustained by an annual cost 

 thirty-six dollars !". 



