266 
Pliny's natural histout. [Book VIIL 
until, after having pfoduced one only, she ceases to bear.®^ 
The young ones, when first born, are shapeless and extremely 
small in flesh, being no larger than a weasel ; for six months 
they are scarcely able to walk,^^ and until they are two months 
old, they cannot move. Lions, he says, are found in Europe, 
but only between the rivers Achelous and I^estus ; being much 
superior in strength to those which are produced in Africa or 
Syria. 
CHAP. 18. THE DIPFEEENT SPECIES OF LIONS. 
There are two species of lions ; in the one the body is shorter 
and more compact, and the mane more crisp and curly these 
are more timid than those with a longer body and straight hair, 
which, in fact, have no fear of wounds. The males raise the 
leg like the dog, when they pass their urine which has a 
most disagreeable odour, the same being the case too with their 
breath. They seldom drink, and only take food every other 
day ;^ when they have gorged themselves, they will sometimes 
95 The account here given of the lioness generally, Aristotle gives re- 
specting the Syrian lioness only, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 31 ; there is some 
reason to believe that Aristotle is not correct in what he says. The ac- 
count given by ^lian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 33, is nearly the same with 
that of Pliny.— B. 
9^ There is much in this account that is incorrect. It is well ascertained 
that the cubs of the lion are proportionably as large and as perfectly formed 
as the young of other animals that belong to the same family. — B. 
Herodotus, B. vii. c. 126, and Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, 
give a similar account of the district in which lions are found. — B. Littre 
remarks, that this statement of Pliny is probably formed, as originally 
suggested by M. Maury, upon the fact, that the lions of Europe, as we 
learn from Herodotus, attacked the camels of Xerxes, on his invasion of 
Europe. 
Cuvier remarks, that we have no knowledge of the lion with curled 
hair, so frequently spoken of by the ancients. He suggests that there may 
have been a peculiar variety between the rivers Achelous and Nestus or 
Mestus, or perhaps, more probably, that it was altogether imaginary. He 
states also, that we no longer see lions without manes, but that Olivier 
had seen some at Bagdat. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 44, speaks of 
the two species of lions, and describes them nearly as Pliny has done. — B. 
93 According to Cuvier, this is not the case ; the lion passes its urine 
just as the other animals of the same family. Pliny again refers to the 
odour of the lion's breath, in B. xi. c. 115. — B, 
1 The lion, like other carnivorous animals, is able to receive a large quan- 
tity of food into the stomach, and to remain for a proportionably longer 
