H g CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



linn'.-, den. Tin- moment ho got in the lion manifested tlie greatest delight, threw his paws on his 

 shouldei-s. licked liis f.uv, ran about him, and purred like an affectionate cat. 



This occurrence became the talk of Florence, and readied the cars of the Grand Duke, who sent 

 for Sir George, and requested an interview at the menagerie, that he might personally witness the 

 conduct of the limi. 



"A captain of a ship from Birbary," .said Sir George, "gave me this lion when quite a whelp. 

 I brought Ijirn up tame ; but, when I thought him too large to run about the house, I built a den for 

 him in my court- vard. From that time he was never permitted to be loose, except when brought to 

 the house to be exhibited to my friends. When he was five years old he did some mischief by pawing 

 ami playing with people in his frolicsome moods. Having gripped a man one day a little too hard, I 

 ordered him to be shot, for fear of incurring any guilt. On this, a friend, who was dining with me, 

 begged him as a present. How he came here I know not." 



"Your friend, Sir George," said the Grand Duke, "was the very same person who presented this 

 lion to me." 



The lioness is considerably smaller than tlie lion, and her form is much more slender and graceful; 

 but the great distinction between the sexes is the absence of the ample mane, and the lengthened 

 hair which adorns the other parts of the body. In her motions the lioness displays more agility, and, 

 in the exercise of the various passions, seems much more impetuous. She is said to go five months 

 with young, and produces generally from two to three or four at a litter, which are born blind. In 

 captivity, the lioness usually becomes very savage as soon as she is a mother; and in a state of nature 

 both guard their young with the greatest jealousy. These are at first obscurely striped or brindled, 

 and somewhat tiger-like in the coat. There is generally a blackish stripe extending along the back, 

 from which numerous other bands of the same colour branch off, nearly parallel to each other, on the 

 sides and tail. The head and limbs are generally obscurely spotted. 



A lion and lioness in the Zoological Gardens, distinguishable by their having a mastiff for a com- 

 panion, are of English birth ; and it is singular that, out of the great number that have been born there, 

 full fifty per cent, have come into the world with cleft palates, and have perished in consequence of not 

 being able to suck. It. has been suggested, that to fill their nostrils with tow would prove a counteraction 

 of this mortality. When young, lions mew like a cat. As they advance, the uniform colour is 

 gradually assumed, and at the age of ten or twelve months the mane begins to appear in the males ; 

 at the age of eighteen months it is considerably developed, and they begin to roar. The natural period 

 of a lion's life has been estimated at twenty or twenty-two years. But Pompey, the great lion which 

 died in 1760, was said to have been in the Tower of London above seventy years ; and one from the 

 river Gambia is believed to have died there at the age of sixty-three. 



The following fact recalls some stories of the cat. Part of a ship's crew being sent on shore, on 

 the coast of India, for the purpose of cutting wood, one m,an, induced by curiosity to stray to a 

 considerable distance frpm his companions, became greatly alarmed as he saw a large lioness walking 

 towards him. On her coming up, however, his fear was allayed ; she laid down at his feet, looking very 

 earnestly first in his face, and then at a tree a little way off, and afterwards proceeded to the tree, yet 

 looking back, as if she wished the sailor to follow h,er. 



At length he ventured, and approaching the tree he saw- a huge baboon, with two cubs in his 

 arms, which he immediately supposed to b3 those of the lioness, as she couched down like a cat, and 

 eyed them intently. Afraid to ascend the tree, the man decided on cutting it down ; provided with 

 hi-i a\e. lie set earnestly to work, the lioness watching apparently every movement ; as soon as the tree 

 tell she tor.' the. b-iboon in pieces, and then turned round and licked her cubs. She now returned to 

 nlor. nibbed her head fondly against him, and then carried away her cubs one by one. 

 There. \vas. at one time, in the Jardiu diM Plantes of Paris, a lioness, which permitted a dog to 

 live in her den. and to which she became strongly attached. The dog was equally fond of her, 

 gambolling with and caressing her in the highest possible spirits. The lioness was most attentive to 

 all its wants, and. when the keepers let the little creature out for exercise, she seemed exceedingly 

 unhappy till it had returned. 



A ho,,.., k,.|,, ; th e Tower of London, in 1733, had, for a considerable time, been so attached 

 "Inch was kept with her in her den, that 'she would not eat till the dog was first 



