46 NATURAL HISTORY. 
a sort of curry-comb to clean her coat, and undoubtedly 
this member is put to the same use by other animals of 
this class in proportion to their cleanliness. 
71. I will now proceed to notice some of the animals 
of this family. At the head of it, and of the wild beasts 
generally, stands the Lion. He is commonly called the 
SS — 
Fig. 25.—Lion, Lioness, and Cubs. 
king of beasts, both for his noble and commanding air, 
and the power concentrated in his comparatively small 
frame. No animal, however large, dare attack him. He 
is found in Africa, and on the Continent of Asia, in In- 
dia, Persia, and Arabia. He preys upon antelopes, heif- 
ers, zebras, gnoos, ete. There is such prodigious strength 
in the muscles of his neck and jaws that he can carry off 
a heifer as easily as a cat canarat. He generally waits 
in ambush for his victim, or creeps like a cat insidiously 
and noiselessly toward it, and, when sufficiently near, at 
one bound secures it with his teeth and claws, uttering, 
at the same time, his terrific roar. He is not properly 
