Oct. 21, 1886] 
selecting observers admirably qualified for this investiga- 
tion; nor need we fear that the United States Government 
will be wanting in their accustomed liberality in publish- 
ing the Reports on the subject when they are prepared. 
Nor will the unofficial geologists of the country and 
private associations be behindhand in contributing to 
the mass of information gradually accumulating upon the 
question of the nature and origin of the terrible event. 
ON LION-BREEDING' 
{ee Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society of 
Ireland have become famous among zoological 
gardens for their breed of lions. While here and there 
among the zoological gardens of the world a lion cub is 
born, none save those of Dublin can boast of a period of 
lion-cub production of nearly thirty years’ duration, or of 
the extraordinary success of the birth of 131 cubs. This 
being so, we are indebted to Mr. V. Ball for a history of 
the subject, which has been published in a recent part of 
the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. The 
subject is one of interest in several ways, and the follow- 
ing short abstract of the details will call our readers’ 
attention to it. 
In 1855 a pair of lions from Natal were purchased for 
these Gardens. The exact relationship of these appears 
to have been unknown, but their first litter was born in 
1857. From 1857 to 1885 we find a total of 131 cubs 
born, of which twenty-one were either born dead or 
died shortly after birth, and 110 were reared, eighty-six 
of these latter being sold, greatly to the profit of the 
Society and to the advantage of very many of the zoo- 
logical gardens of Europe, Asia, and America. These 
131 cubs were the offspring of nine lionesses and four 
lions ; of the latter, one, “ Natal,” was the father of forty- 
two cubs; and another, “Old Charley,” who was a son 
of “Natal’s,” was the father of forty-six; while of the 
former, one, “ Old Girl,” who was born in the Gardens in 
1859 as one of a litter of five, was the mother of no less 
than fifty-five cubs, of which forty-nine were reared. 
This prolific lioness died at the age of 16 years, 
apparently of old age. 
The facts given by Mr. Ball in one of his very carefully 
compiled tables seem to indicate two periods of the year 
at which lionesses in a state of semi-domestication pro- 
duce their young. While the absence of any well-authen- 
ticated information as to the period of the year in which 
lion cubs are born when ina state of nature is quite remark- 
able, yet Mr. Ball ventures the fairly safe surmise that 
considering the period necessary for the rearing and edu- 
cation of a cub to be at the least a year, for the cub is often 
learning to kill its prey when over a year old, it is most im- 
probable that lionesses have more than one litter ina year 
when ina wild state; but he thinks it probable that the geo- 
graphical surroundings of the parents may alter this period, 
and that it may be in the autumn season in the tropics, 
when the great heats and droughts of summer are over, 
and in the spring season in more temperate climes, where 
the summer warmth would be of service to the young off- 
spring ; and he very ingeniously speculates that the two 
periods of maximum production, as observed in the 
lionesses in the Dublin Gardens, may have been inherited 
from two corresponding periods, the result of climatal 
conditions in a wild state. Another remarkable pheno- 
menon comes to light on comparing the curves of produc- 
tion, when modified into curves of conception, with the 
monthly curves of temperature for Dublin. In doing so, 
the maximum curve in the one case is found to closely 
approximate to the maximum curve of temperature, ze. 
t “Observations on Lion-Breeding in the Gardens of the Royal Zoological 
Society of Ireland,” by V. Ball, M.A., F.R.S., Director of the Science 
and Art Museum, Dublin, and Hon. Sec. of the Royal Zoological Society 
of Ireland. Yvansactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxviii. Part 24, 
-August 1886. 
NATURE 
601 
June and July; and the second maximum curve corre- 
sponds to the period of lowest temperature, z.e. December 
and January: but it will be remembered that then the 
animals are kept in well-heated houses, so that this 
period, as to temperature, may, though the temperature be 
artificial, be compared to the other, when it is natural. 
The cubs when born are noted as distinctly spotted 
with dark brown on a ground colour which is rather 
light brown than fulvous; from about one to three 
months they are perhaps most distinctly defined ; and, 
though along the back the spots are somewhat quadran- 
gular in shape, there is no indication of actual bars or 
bands. 
In reference to the sexes of the cubs, Mr. Ball is able 
from accurate information to record the sex of 130 of the 
cubs, and we find 74 were males and 56 females, giving 
a majority of 14 males in every 100 cubs. This is an 
interesting and novel addition to our knowledge of the 
natural history of the large Carnivores. 
No lion or lioness lived in the Gardens for a longer 
period than 16 years, and it seems probable that 12 to 14 
years is the average duration of lion life. The cases 
so often referred to of lions living to an age of 20 to 30, 
or the case of “ Pompey,” who died in the Tower in 1760 
at the age of 70, stand on no scientific or even reliable 
evidence. 
Under the heading of “The Cause of Success in 
Breeding,” we find some valuable suggestions as to the 
keeping of these splendid Carnivores ; but we searched in 
vain for the secret of success. Horse-flesh is evidently 
not dear in Dublin, as the annual cost of the food of an 
adult lion, being for the most part horse-flesh, only came 
to 152 in 1885. A series of tables accompanies the 
memoir, and some illustrations of the cubs of the lioness 
“Queen,” born April 1885, from drawings by Mr. 
Thomas. 
NOTES 
AN article in Nature for May 6 (p. 7) drew attention to 
the fact that this present year is the tercentenary of the introduc- 
tion of the potato into England, and discussed some of the 
points of its history. Apart from the purely historic aspects of 
the question, ‘‘ Whence did our potato first come ? ” it was shown 
that in connection with the suggestion of cross-breeding to 
strengthen against disease it is very important to know which 
is the species that for three hundred years we have been culti- 
vating. With a view to drawing the attention of cultivators to 
the subject, it is proposed to hold a Tercentenary Potato Exhi- 
bition at the St. Stephen’s Hall, Westminster, from Wednesday, 
December 1, to Saturday, December 4, and to appoint one of 
those days fora Conference, when some of the unsettled questions 
may be discussed. The Exhibition will consist of four sections :— 
(1) An historic and scientific collection, to include early works 
on botany, in which the potato is figured ; maps showing the 
European knowledge of the New World three hundred year 
ago, and the proximity of potato-growing districts to the ports 
most frequented ; early books on travel and voyages in which 
references to the potato occur; works and papers in which 
attempts to define the different species are made ; illustrations 
of the species and varieties ; contemporary references to the 
voyages of Hawkins, Drake, Grenville, and Raleigh. (2) Illus- 
trations of potato disease, and works on the subject. (Sections 
I and 2 will be arranged under the advice of a committee of 
scientific gentlemen who have consented to give their co-opera- 
tion.) (3) Methods for storing, preserving, and using partly 
diseased potatoes, &c. (4) A display of tubers of all the various 
varieties grown. (In this section gold, silver, and bronze medals 
will be awarded. Each exhibit must be accompanied by a state 
ment of date of planting, locality, nature of soil, &c.) 
