OKDER OF CARNIVORA. 
359 
Thus the famous King of Abyssinia, Theodoras, whose existence 
was terminated in 1868 in so tragical a manner, had in his palace 
several Lions, which are intended to figure among the magnificent 
collection of animals at the Zoological Gardens of London. 
The above facts are sufficient to prove the power of education 
on the king of beasts. 
In Paris and London, also at Naples and Florence, the Lion has 
bred many times in captivity ; but it is with difficulty such cubs 
are reared, as they suffer extremely at the period of dentition. If 
it were not for this, there is no doubt that the Lion could be 
successfully acclimatised. The few that have lived for a moderate 
time in our climate have exhibited an exemplary degree of 
docility ; indeed to such an extent have they submitted them- 
selves without resistance to Man’s control, that in the opera of 
Alexander and Darius , which was represented at Co vent Garden 
Theatre, London, one figured several times. 
In the Windsor menagerie, in 1824, a very remarkable cross 
was effected between a Tigress and a Lion. From this union 
resulted two young, of a very peaceable temper, and dissimilar 
in appearance from both parents. 
In former times Lions were numerous even in Europe. Accord- 
ing to Herodotus, Aristotle, and Pausanias, they were abundant 
in Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly; but for centuries in these 
countries they have been unknown. Arabia, Syria, and Babylonia 
used also to contain large numbers. In Arabia and on the con- 
fines of Persia and India at the present date they are scarce. 
We may form some idea of their number in ancient times by 
the quantity absorbed annually in the combats which were so 
much in favour with the Romans. In a very brief interval, Sylla 
had slaughtered a hundred Lions, Pompey six hundred, and Csesar 
four hundred. 
In fact, in our age the leonine species is rarely met with 
except in Africa, where every day its numbers are diminishing, 
and from whence it will soon completely disappear if the present 
rate of slaughter is continued. Our grand- children probably will 
know the Lion only from our descriptions. 
Several varieties of the Lion are distinguished. The most 
ferocious is the Brown Lion of the Cape. In the same habitat 
lives another, much less dangerous, the Yellow Cape Lion. After 
