LIOX. 359 



carefully measured the naked carcase of the largest lion. From the top of the 

 front teeth to the end of the tail it measured 9 feet 7 inches, laying the tape along 

 the curves of the body, and as all the gristle and meat of the nose had been cut 

 away with the skin, and at least an inch must have been lost with the tuft at the 

 end of the tail, I think it would have measured all but 10 feet before it was 

 skinned, even without making any allowance for the mane." Although Cornwallis 

 Harris gave 10 feet 6 inches as the length of a large lion, ilr. Selous' estimate may 

 be provisionally taken as representing the full size of the African tv-pe. Females 

 are generally about 1 foot shorter than males. There is a dearth of information as 

 to the height of a full-gi-owu lion at the shoulder : but ^Ir. Blanford tells us that 

 one measuring 8 feet 9i inches in length, had a height of 3 feet 6 inches. A fine 

 menagerie lion recently measured had a total length of 10 feet, of which the tail 

 occupied 3 feet 2 inches. 



Still more imperfect is the infomiation i-elatiug to the weight of lions. Mr. 

 Selous states that an African lion in poor condition shot in 1877 weighed 376 lbs.; 

 but a fine, well-nourished example killed later on weighed 500 lbs. This weight 

 is, however, exceeded by a male shot in the Orange Free State in 1865, which 

 on good evidence is reported to have weighed over 583 lbs. The menagerie 

 specimen, of which the dimensions are given above, weighed 434 lbs. Sir Samuel 

 Baker is of opinion that a lion would weigh more than a tiger of the same 

 approximate dimensions ; but against this may be set the opinion of Mr. Blanford, 

 who considei-s that a tiger, although stanfling lower than a lion, is heavier in the 

 tody and more powei-ful. 



Before entei-ing upon the consideration of the geographical distribution and 

 habits of the lion, it may be well to point out how the skull of a lion may be 

 readih' distinguisherl from that of a tiger. In a lion's skull the so-called nasal 

 bones, or those forming the roof of the cavity of the nose, have their superior 

 termination on tlie forehead situated in the same transvei-se line as the tei-minations 

 of the upper jawbones or maxillai. In the skull of a tiger, 

 on the other hand, the upper extremities of the nasal bones 

 extend considerably higher up on the forehead than do those 

 of the upper jawbones. The skull of a lion maj- also be dis- 

 tinguished from that of a tiger by the much smaller size of ' ^ "~ '' 

 the tubercle on the inner side of the .upper flesh-tooth. Thus, 

 whereas in the tiger this tubercle is but little smaller than in 

 the cori-esponding tooth of the hj'sena, figured on p. 353, in the 

 lion it more nearly approaches the condition obtaining in the 

 tooth of an extinct cat, represented in the accompanying figure, the left ipper flesh- 

 although it extends nearer to the front edge of the tooth. (,„) of'' an extinct 

 The skull of an adult male lion may measure as much as 13 sabre-toothed tiger. 

 inches in extreme length, with a breadth across the widest The projection on the 

 part of the cheek-bones of 9^ inches. ^'"i^ °f ""^ '°'™'' P^."^ "^ 



^ ~ . . the figure is the inner 



The present i-ange of the lion includes the whole con- tubercle of the flesh-tooth, 

 tinent of Africa, from the Cape Colony to Abyssinia and 



Algeria, although in many of the more civilised districts the animal is now greatly 

 reduced in numbers, or even completely extenninated. In Asia it is found through 



