1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. ±99 



or three were shot so lately as the hot weather of 1867. Daring a 

 march in December last from Goonah to Jodhpore through Kotah, 

 Boondee and Harowfcee, I made particular enquiries, as I went along, 

 as to the occurrence of the lion, but could discover nothing to lead 

 me to think that it is a common animal in the Kotah or Boondee 

 jungles, nor even a permanent resident there ; but perhaps the natives 

 do not distinctly distinguish it from the tiger. 



The lion is higher at the shoulder but shorter in the body than 

 the tiger ; in other words, comparing a lion and tiger of equal weight, 

 the lion would be higher than the tiger, and the tiger larger than 

 the lion. The head of the lion, even allowing for the deceptive 

 appearance of size given by the mane of the male, is slightly larger 

 than that of the tiger. A very fine large male lion shot near Aboo 

 last year, measured, without stretching, forty-two inches in height 

 at the shoulder, and ten feet and half an inch from the tip of the nose 

 to the end of the tail. The hair of the mane was ten inches long. 



The lion has never the sleek coat, nor rounded form of the tiger, 

 but is invariably lean and lanky. His ribs can be distinguished under 

 the rough skin, and as he walks, the movement of the shoulder-blades 

 is very distinctly seen. The forelegs and all the feet are more 

 massive than those of the tiger. ' The large size of the feet is particu- 

 larly well marked in the young, the footprints of a lion cub of 

 twenty-four months being nearly as large as those # of a full grown 

 tiger, but distinguishable from the latter by their greater lightness, 

 as well as by their shape. The contrast in size between the foot- 

 prints of adults is not so great, the lion's being but little larger than 

 the tiger's, but distinguished from the latter by the rounder outline, 

 as if the lion walked more on the tips of its toes than the tiger. 



The colour of the lion differs with age, but at all ages the belly 

 and legs are lighter than the back. The general tint is a sandy 

 yellowish dun, much like that of the camel. In the young the colour 

 is very light, and the legs and sides are particularly so, while the 

 belly is almost white. On the light parts, there are very faint spots 

 of a darker shade, in size about equal to a rupee. 



The testicles are small but prominent, and are set high up just under 

 the anus ; the penis is like that of the tiger. 



Unlike the tiger, the lion is rarely if ever seen in the hills at any 



