156 PROF. E. HULL, ON THE SPREAD OF EXISTING ANIMALS 
of Scripture in the passage, “ the high hills are a refuge for the 
wild goats and the rocks for the conies ”* ; these I consider to 
be the jerboas, which I saw on several occasions in the Sinaitic 
Peninsula, and once on the summit of Mount Sinai itself. 
The Lion ( Fclis leo ). — “ The king of beasts,” as the lion has 
well been called — though by no means the largest or strongest 
amongst the carnivora — for it is not so powerful as the tigerf — 
had a very wide range in Post-Pliocene, and recent times over 
the Europasian Continent, and invaded Africa, its present 
home, on the approach of the cold of the Glacial epoch. Its 
remains have been traced from the north of England through 
the centre and south into Southern Asia, and its form is 
engraven on the tablets of ancient Babylon. Of its presence 
in Palestine in Old Testament times we are aware from 
frequent references in the Bible, but why it should have been 
so completely exterminated over this vast area remains an 
unexplained mystery. On consulting Dr. Scharff regarding 
this question, he writes : “ As regards the disappearance of so 
many large animals, such as the lion, from Europe, it is no 
doubt largely due to competition with others that had the same 
tastes. The tiger, as you remark, may have driven the lion out 
of India, but as the former is not known to have occurred in 
Europe, some other cause must have induced the lion to leave 
us.”$ No doubt, also, increase of population and arms of 
precision have contributed to the same result. But Africa has 
offered him a spacious and secure retreat, and with the limits 
of the chase imposed by the British and Foreign Governments 
upon hunters, this noble animal, which Landseer has so 
strikingly modelled in bronze at the base of the Nelson 
monument, will live to roam at large for an unlimited period 
of time. I may mention here that the lion does not appear to 
have reached Ireland or Scotland in its migration from Eastern 
Europe and Asia, and this fact is regarded by Scharff as 
evidence of its very late arrival in Britain. 
The Mammoth (Elephas primi genius ). — I shall conclude this 
part of my subject with a short account of this extinct 
pachyderm, whose history has justly given rise to so much 
interesting speculation, and whose remains have been discovered 
over large areas of the Europasian Continent and North 
* Psa. civ, v. 18. 
+ As proved by actual test in the zoological gardens of the Itoyal 
Dublin Society by the late Dr. S. Haughton, F.R.S. 
| Letter dated May 29th, 1907. 
