120 



CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



which was standing by the road side, and which belonged to a menagerie on its way to Salisbury Fair. 

 She had been considered a very domesticated creatuiv, and bef< >iv this had cxhibited,it is said, no ferocity ; 

 but if so, the proof was now decisive that there is danger in <-<m!i<ling in the most docile of these 

 animals. As the keepers were now aroused they pursued her, carrying the dead mastiff in her teeth, 

 into a granary, which served for keeping agricultural implements, and was now so barricaded as to 

 prevent her escape. She continued, for a considerable time, roaring dreadfully, and was afterwards 

 secured and conducted safely to her den. A large picture was painted of this extraordinary attack, 

 and was long one of the shilling exhibitions at the Egyptian Hall, in Piccadilly. 



One Asiatic lion mentioned is that of Bengal. Mr. Bennett points out the differences between 

 the Asiatic race and that of Southern Africa, as consisting principally in the larger si/e, the more 

 regular and graceful form, the generally darker colour, and the less extensive mane of the African. 



Another is the Persian or Arabian lion, which is stated to be distinguishable by the pale Isabella 

 colour of the fur, and those which have been exhibited in England as Persian lions bear out this remark ; 



a 



:, 



ji 





THE LIONESS AND HOG. 



but Captain Walter Smee states that one seen at the Surrey Zoological Gardens appeared to him to 

 differ but little from specimens brought from Africa. 



The third is called the maneless lion.* Olivier says : "We saw five individuals of this race in 

 the menagerie of the pasha of Baghdad : they had been there five years, and had been taken young in the 

 MI v irons of Bassora. There were three males and two females ; the former were a little larger than 

 the latter; and all much resembled the African species, excepting that they were smaller, and had no 

 inane. We were assured that they never had any, and that no lion of these countries had one. We 

 have often regretted that we did not ask the pasha for two of them, that we might make a close 

 comparison with the African species, and satisfy ourselves whether the lion of Arabia ought to be 

 regarded as a species distinct from the other, or as a degenerated race." 



At the close of the \,-ar 1 ,s:U, Captain Smee exhibited to the Zoological Society the skins of a lion 

 :uid linnet killed l /v ],j la j n (! u /erat, and selected from eleven obtained' there by him, eight of which 



Mis I.PO. Linna'119. Var. Goojratensis. Since. 



