28 WILD ANIMALS. 



years, which, is certainly not near the average age they should 

 attain. As before said, they suffer from peculiar ailments, and 

 lung disease has carried off several of them. 



The lioness is a somewhat smaller animal, and her form is more 

 slender, lithe, and graceful. It can be seen at once that the chief 

 distinction in the appearance of the sexes is the total absence in 

 the lioness of the bushy mane' and long hair which adorn the body 

 of the lion, her hair being more sleek and softer. If watched while 

 she is moving about it will readily be observed that she displays 

 more agility, and is quicker and more impetuous in all her actions. 

 The expression of her countenance is also different, for it exhibits 

 a sullen and more crafty character, and one more like the inferior 

 species of the cat tribe. Although she differs but little in the 

 ferocity of her disposition to that of the lion while young, yet 

 directly she becomes a mother there is a marked increase in her 

 savageness, and from that time forth she is an animal more to be 

 dreaded than her mate. 



Lions appear to breed more freely in captivity than any other 

 species of cat. The number of cubs born in a litter is generally 

 between two and four, and sometimes five. They are very hard 

 to rear. A large number used to be born in the Zoological 

 G-ardens with malformation of the palate, which rendered them 

 unable to obtain their food ; this defect disappeared when some 

 change was made in- the diet of the animals, but the mortality 

 among the cubs during the period they are shedding their milk- 

 teeth is, like it is in all carnivora, very great. They are born with 

 open eyes, but are helpless until they are four or five weeks old. ' 



There was a curious legend of the Middle Ages that a lion's 

 whelp was born dead, and only first roused to or received life 

 at the expiration of three days by the roar of its sire, or by being 

 breathed on by him. It was often alluded to in consequence as 

 the natural type of the Resurrection, and from this fabulous history 

 of the animal he was made a symbol of one of the Four Evangelists, 

 namely St. Mark, who was called the historian of the Resurrec- 

 tion, — most probably from the fact that his Gospel is the one used 

 on Easter day, — and the lion being the symbol of the Resur- 

 rection, it was assigned him as an emblem. 



