65 
THE STORY OF THE LION . 
fact is that between the animal with hardly a vestige of a mane, and the far 
handsomer but much less common beast, with a long flowing black mane, 
every possible intermediate variety may be found. On one occasion I shot 
two old male lions, which I found lying together under the same bush, both 
of which agreed as near as possible in size, but while the one was full-maned, 
with a very dark-colored fur, the other was very yellow and had but little 
mane. Shortly after, with a brother sportsman, I again met with a dark, 
full-maned lion in company with a nearly maneless light-colored one. Of still 
more importance was the killing of a lioness with three cubs, of which two 
AFRICAN LEONo 
were males and one a female. Of the two male cubs, the one, owing to the 
dark color of the tips of the hair, was almost black, while the other was 
reddish-yellow. The skin of the female cub was also of a light color. Now 
I firmly believe that the two male cubs would have grown up, the one into' 
a dark-skinned, black-maned lion, the other into- a yellow lion, with but little 
mane; and further than this, I believe that the two' pairs of males I have 
mentioned above were cubs of the same litters, and had been hunting in couples 
since their cubhood. 
It seems quite probable that the lions of one district may differ to a certain 
