264 
pliny's natueal history. 
[Book VIII. 
animal known as the bonasus it has the mane of the horse, 
but is, in other respects, like the bull, with horns, however, so 
much bent inwards upon each other, as to be of no use for the 
purposes of combat. It has therefore to depend upon its 
flight, and, while in the act of flying, it sends forth its excre- 
ments, sometimes to a distance of even three jugera ;^ the 
contact of which burns those who pursue the animal, just like 
a kind of fire. 
CHAP. 1 7. — LIONS ; HOW THEY ARE PRODIJCED. 
It is a remarkable fact, that pards,^^ panthers, lions, and 
other animals of this kind, walk with the points of their nails 
concealed in a sheath in the body, lest they should be broken 
or blunted ; and that, when they run, their hooked claws are 
turned backwards, and are never extended, except in the act of 
seizing their prey.^^ 
(16.) The noble appearance of the lion is more especially to be 
seen in that species which has the neck and shoulders covered 
with a mane, which is always acquired at the proper age by 
those produced from a lion ; while, on the other hand, those 
that are the offspring of the pard, are always without this dis- 
tinction. The female also has no mane. The sexual passions of 
these animals are very violent, and render the male quite furious. 
This is especially the case in Africa, where, in consequence 
of the great scarcity of water, the wild beasts assemble in 
great numbers on the banks of a few rivers. This is also the 
reason why so many curious varieties of animals are produced 
S9 Pliny's account is from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 45, but, as is 
often the case, with considerable exaggerations. Aristotle says, that these 
animals eject their excrements to a distance of four feet, and that it is of 
so acrid a nature, as to cause the hair of the dog to fall off. The word 
jugerum is generally used as a measure of superficial surface. — B. 
^ Pliny here renders the Greek irXsOpov, by "jugerum," which is 
ordinarily a measure of superficies. In the present case, therefore, it must 
mean a measure of length, of 100 Grecian, or 104 Roman feet. 
■ 91 The pard of Pliny, as we shall find stated below, is the male of the 
panther. 
^2 Cuvier remarks, that all the feline animals have retractile claws, drawn 
by an elastic ligament into a sheath, and protruded when required for the 
purpose of prehension. The sheath is formed of a duplicature or fold of 
the skin and the subjacent cellular membrane. — B. 
