CLASS I. 
f 
MAMMALIxA.: 
ORDER 5. CAENIVORA. 
253 
MEETING OF THE LIONS. — (See p. 249.) 
Gerard tlius speats on this subject: " Wlien a lion and a lioness are togetlier, tlie female always 
roars first, and at the moment Avhen the couple is leaving its lair. The roar is composed of a 
dozen distinct sounds, which are commenced by low sighing, and then go on crescendo, and finish 
as they began, leaving an interval of a few seconds between eacli sound; the lion then alternates 
with the lioness. They roar in that manner every quarter of an hour up to the moment when 
they approach the encampment that they are about to attack, when they both keep silence ; but 
after they have taken and eaten their food, they recommence their melancholy music and con- 
tinue it until morning. 
" A solitary lion generally roars as he rises from his slumber at the commencement of the 
night, and will often continue his thundering challenges without cessation until he reaches the 
encampments. During the great heats of summer the lion roars but little, and sometimes not at 
all ; but as the season of his amours advances, he makes up for the time lost in silence. The 
Arabs, whose language is rich in comparisons, have but one word for the roaring of the lion, and 
that is mt^, thunder. 
"Among other foolish questions I have had asked me, is : ' Why does the lion roar ?' I Avould 
say that the roaring of the lion is to him what to the bird is his musical song, and if the ques- 
tioner does not believe the fact, if he will go to the forests and pass several years in his company, 
he may perchance find a better explanation." We may add that many authors have supposed 
that the roaring of the lion was instinctive, its main object being to startle the animals on which 
he wishes to prey, from their hiding-places, so that he may see them, and in their confusion fall 
upon and seize them. 
The author we have just quoted furnishes the following cirrious statistics : " The average length 
of the life of the Hon is from thirty to forty years. He kills or consumes, year by year, horses, 
mules, horned cattle, camels, and sheep, to the value of twelve hundred dollars ; and taking the 
average of his life, which is thirtj-five years, each lion costs the Arabs forty-two thousand dollars. 
The thirty animals of this species living at the present moment, in the province of Constantine, and 
Avhose loss is replaced by others coming from Tunis or Morocco, are sustained by an annual cost 
of thirty-six dollars !" , 
