8 THE CAT 



others it is little more developed than in the 

 female. But these differences are purely indi- 

 vidual, and have no specific value. Indeed, Mr. 

 F. C. Selous, the famous hunter and explorer of 

 South Africa, says that in wild lions the mane 

 never reaches the development shown by many 

 specimens in menageries. Young lions are 

 spotted all over the body at birth ; the spots 

 usually disappear at from two to three years of 

 age, about the time the mane begins to show, 

 but not infrequently they remain indistinctly 

 on the sides and abdomen throughout life. 

 African lions are usually larger than Asiatic 

 specimens, the male being always the larger, 

 and scaling perhaps four hundred pounds in 

 weight, with an extreme length of ten to ten 

 and a half feet. 



3. The LEOPARD (F.pardus) covers very much 

 the same countries as the lion, but is more con- 

 stant in its yellow background of color, covered 

 with rosettes of black spots. It varies greatly, 

 however, in size, some specimens especially 

 old males in India reaching a bulk double 

 that of average individuals. Some naturalists 

 and almost all sportsmen erroneously regard 



