THE L105?, 277 



some time under a Lion, and received several severe 

 briiises from him ; yet the animal spared his Hfe. 

 It is, however, a matter of some doubt, whether 

 this merciful disposition towards Man is the eftect of 

 generosity, or whether it does not rather arise from 

 caprice and want of appetite *. 



In the Museum of Natural History at Paris one of 

 the Lionesses, about nine years of age, has three 

 times had young. At the first litter she produced 

 nine, at the second three, and at the third two. 

 The young ones of the second litter, at the age of a 

 month, are represented in the frontispiece, with their 

 mother ; from a painting by Marechal, natural- 

 history painter in Paris. The parents, which are 

 about equal in age, and probably of the same litter, 

 were caught together, when somewhat more than 

 a year old, in a trap, made in a wood, in the north 

 of Africa. Tiiey now live together, are extremely 

 gentle, and exhibit great affection towards each 

 other. — None of the young ones had at first either 

 a mane, or tuft at the end of their tail ; and w^e are 

 well assured that these do not begin to appear till 

 the animals are three years, or three years and a half, 

 old. Their coat was somewhat woolly, and of a 

 confused colour, between grey and red. They had 

 several little brown transverse strokes on the upper 

 part of the back ; which were crossed on each side 

 by a straight line of the same colour, that extended 

 from the back of the head to the tail. As they in* 

 creased in size, these by degrees disappeared ; and 



* Church. 



T3 



