88 Wild Beasts 



Buffon's opinion of the use to which lions put jackals 

 falls to the ground before facts. It is an old idea that 

 they, and tigers also, employ them as scouts ; nevertheless- 

 it would appear that the true relation has been overlooked, 

 and that it is the jackal who uses the lion. When a lion 

 leaves his lair he always roars, and if any jackals are in the 

 vicinity, the sound attracts them at once ; it is like an invi- 

 tation to a meal, for these satellites feast upon the offal. 

 Similarly, as the lion's majestic form moves with long and 

 soft but heavy tread through the gloom, every jackal 

 that sights the grim hunter follows him. 



In works on natural history lions are classed among the 

 educabilia. There is, however, a certain ludicrousness in 

 distinguishing this animal as one that can be taught. So 

 can a flea. Every creature with a nervous system may be 

 and is instructed in some manner. All living things so 

 provided learn, though not necessarily through tuition, 

 nor in all cases consciously. Dr. Maudsley's remark 

 (" Physiology and Pathology of the Mind "), that "a spinal 

 cord without memory would be an idiotic spinal cord," 

 is full of meaning. Wherever a nervous arc exists, there is 

 memory and the potentialities of mind. The central axis 

 is nothing more than an integrated series of such con- 

 nected arcs ending in a brain when the animal is suffi- 

 ciently elevated. 



A whelp is born in the spring, or towards the close of 

 winter, a little sooner or later, as the latitude varies. 

 Before this event the parents have fixed upon some 

 solitary spot in which to establish themselves. The 

 mother's character undergoes a temporary change for 



