HABITS AND HAIR OF CARNIVORES 



95 



the chieftain of her clan finish off this little bit of his toilet. We 

 are so much accustomed to dwell on the naturally clean habits 

 of a domestic cat that without such an account as Miss Frances 

 Pitt has given we should have hesitated to transfer the character 

 for personal cleanliness from the domesticated to the wild cat. If 

 this be not the sole reason for the course of the hair-stream I have 

 described, I am at a loss 

 to imagine any other. 



Lion's Neck. 



On each side of the lion's 

 neck where it joins the 

 shoulder there is a well- D 

 developed whorl, and this as 

 a rule is extended forwards 

 into a feathering (Figs. 36 

 and 37), and ends in a crest 

 on the lower part of the side 

 of the neck. It is common 

 also in tigers and leopards. 

 This is, as elsewhere, a 

 record of strong and oft- 

 repeated action in powerful 

 muscles which lie beneath 

 it, and bears witness to the 

 great functional activity of 

 the fore-limbs as compared 

 with the hind-limbs in these 

 three formidable cats. It 

 is not an animal pedometer, 

 but may perhaps be termed 

 an ergograpk. 





A. 



Lion's Back. 



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Fig. 37. — Back of Lion, showing 

 reversed area of hair with whorl 

 at A. Feathering B. Crest C. 



The strange pattern of 

 reversed hair (Fig. 37) is 

 much the most notable of 



the three peculiarities found on the lion's skin. It consists 

 of a whorl (A) lying over the lumbar region in the middle 

 line which expands into a very broad feathering (B) and terminates 

 in a crest (C) a short distance behind the level of the shoulders. 

 This is not found in any of the numerous short-haired Felidse that 

 I have examined, and it is a feature which demands explanation. 



