THE LION 



{Felis leo) 



The Lion is the acknowledged king, not only of the Cat family and 

 the order of carnivora, but of the beasts at large, and it cannot be denied 

 that he deserves his position on account of his imposing presence and 

 the thunderous majesty of his voice. 



The mane, the special insignia of the feline monarch, is, however, 

 as every one knows, absent in his consort, and is not developed in the 

 young male before his third year ; while it varies much in colour and 

 development, like the beard in man, being mostly black in some speci- 

 mens and all yellow in others, while it may be absent altogether. The 

 variation is purely individual, for a lion with a fine long black mane 

 may be own brother to an animal with a scanty yellow one. 



The colour of the coat is also rather variable, some specimens having 

 more of the reddish or yellowish tinge, and others being rather greyer ; 

 but extreme variations, like black and white, seem to be unknown in 

 the Lion. 



The form and expression of the face are also noticeably different in 

 different specimens, some having a much nobler aspect than others. 

 The black tuft at the end of the tail is a most constant point ; it often 

 conceals a short claw-like horny appendage, which used in ancient times 

 to be considered the instrument by which the animal goaded himself 

 into frenzy when enraged. As a matter of fact, it is too small to be of 

 any importance, and a similar tail-^claw is found in such mild creatures 

 as some of the smaller Kangaroos or Wallabies. 



Lion cubs, which are born, unlike kittens, with their eyes open, are 

 closely but indistinctly spotted, and traces of this marking often last 

 throughout life on the legs and under-parts of some specimens, especially 

 Lionesses. The pupil of the eye in the Lion, as in all the great Cats, 

 is always circular, not contracting slit-wise as in the common Cat. In 



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