CAPT.  W.  SMEE  ON  THE  MANELESS  LION  OF  GUZERAT. 
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A  male  killed  by  me  on  May  13th,  1830,  measured  8  feet  9 1  inches  in  total  length, 
including  the  tail :  its  height  was  3  feet  6  inches.  A  female  killed  at  the  same  time 
was  8  feet  7  inches  long,  and  3  feet  4  inches  high.  The  impression  made  by  the  paw 
of  the  male  on  the  sand  measured  6i  inches  across.  His  weight,  exclusive  of  the 
entrails,  was  35  stone  of  14  lbs  to  the  stone  :  the  head  and  neck  weighed  33  seer  (the 
seer  being  equal  to  2  lbs  avoirdupois)  ;  the  body  and  limbs,  244^  seer ;  the  fore- 
leg, 24,  and  the  hind-leg  also  24  seer.  His  liver  was  more  subdivided  than  that  of 
the  female :  in  the  former  I  counted  eleven,  and  in  the  latter  nine  lobes. 
These  Lions  are  found  in  Guzerat  along  the  banks  of  the  Sombermuttee  near  Ahmed- 
abad.  During  the  hot  months  they  inhabit  the  low  brushy  wooded  plains  that  skirt 
the  Bhardar  and  Sombermuttee  rivers  from  Ahmedabad  to  the  borders  of  Cutch, 
being  driven  out  of  the  large  adjoining  tracts  of  high  grass  jungle  (called  Bheers)  by 
the  practice  annually  resorted  to  by  the  natives  of  setting  fire  to  the  grass,  in  order  to 
clear  it  and  ensure  a  succession  of  young  shoots  for  the  food  of  the  cattle  upon  the  first 
fall  of  the  rains.  They  extend  through  a  range  of  country  about  forty  miles  in  length, 
including  various  villages,  and  among  others  those  of  Booroo  and  Goliana,  near  which 
my  finest  specimens  were  killed.  They  are  so  common  in  this  district,  that  I  killed  no 
fewer  than  eleven  during  a  residence  of  about  a  month  ;  yet  scarcely  any  of  the  natives, 
except  the  cattle  keepers,  had  seen  them  previously  to  my  coming  among  them.  The 
cattle  were  frequently  carried  off  or  destroyed,  but  this  they  attributed  to  Tigers:  the 
Tiger,  however,  does  not  exist  in  that  part  of  the  country.  Those  natives  to  whom 
they  were  known  gave  them  the  name  of  Ontiah  Bang,  or  Camel-Tiger ;  an  appellation 
derived  from  their  resemblance  in  colour  to  the  Cdmel.  They  appear  to  be  very  de- 
structive to  domesticated  cattle,  and  the  remains  of  a  considerable  number  of  carcases 
of  bullocks  were  found  near  the  place  at  which  my  specimens  were  killed  :  about  ten 
days  previously,  four  donkeys  had  been  destroyed  at  the  village  of  Cashwah.  I  could 
not  learn  that  men  had  ever  been  attacked  by  them.  When  struck  by  a  ball,  they  ex- 
hibited great  boldness,  standing  as  if  preparing  to  resist  their  pursuers,  and  then  going 
oW  slowly  and  in  a  very  sullen  manner ;  unlike  the  Tiger,  which,  on  such  occasions, 
retreats  springing  and  snarling. 
In  addition  to  the  district  in  which  I  have  met  with  them,  these  Lions  are  also  found 
on  the  Rhun  near  Rhunpor,  and  near  Puttun  in  Guzerat.  Some  persons  who  saw 
them  in  Bombay  stated  that  they  also  occur  in  Sind  and  in  Persia.  How  far  this  latter 
statement  may  be  correct  I  cannot  determine  ;  but  I  may  remark  that  the  Persian  Lion 
which  is  at  present  exhibited  at  the  Surrey  Zoological  Gardens,  has  none  of  the  cha- 
racteristics of  the  maneless  Lion  of  Guzerat,  and  seems  to  me  to  differ  but  little  from 
individuals  known  to  have  been  brought  from  Africa. 
Although  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  introduce  this  animal  to  the  notice  of  zoologists, 
VOL.  I.  2  a 
