Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/704

 080 LION fully developed manes as any other of the species. Mr F. C. Selous l has shown that in South Africa the so-called black-maned lion and others with yellow scanty manes are found, not only in the same locality, but even among individuals of the same parentage. The lion belongs to the very natural and distinctly defined group constituting the genus Felis of Linnaeus (for the characters and position of which see article MAMMALIA), a genus held by Pallas and other philosophical naturalists as a model of what a genus ought to be, although recent writers have divided and subdivided it into as many as thirteen sections, on each of which a new generic term has been imposed. Among these sections is one containing the largest members of the group, and differing from the others in the well-marked anatomical character that the anterior cornu of the hyoid arch is but little ossified, and by the less important one that the pupil of the eye when contracted is a circular hole, instead of a vertical slit as in the cat. The lion agrees with the tiger and the leopard in these respects, but differs from them in its uniform style of colouring, and from all the other Fdulae, in the arrangement of its hairy covering, the hair of the top of the head, chin, and neck, as far back as the shoulder, being not only very much longer, but also differently disposed from the hair elsewhere, being erect or directed forwards, and so constituting the character istic ornament called the mane. There is also a tuft of elongated hairs at the end of the tail, one upon each elbow, and in most lions a copious fringe along the FIG. 1. Lion and Lioness, after a Drawing by Wolf in Elliot s Monograph of the Felidaz. middle line of the under surface of the body, wanting, however, in some examples. 2 It must, however, be observed that these characters are peculiar to the adults of the male sex only, and that, even as regards their coloration, young lions show indications of the darker stripes and mottlings so characteristic of the greater number of the members of the genus ; just as the young of nearly all the ^ A Hunter s Wanderings in Africa, 1881, p. 258. 2 Mr Selous, whose opportunities for obtaining evidence upon this subject were very large, says that in the region of South Africa, between the Zambesi and the Limpopo rivers, he never saw a lion with any long hair under the body, and that the manes of the wild lions of that district are far inferior in development to those commonly seen in menageries in Europe. plain-coloured species of deer show for a time the light- coloured spots which are met with in the adults of only some of the species. The usual colour of the adult lion is yellowish-brown, but it may vary from a deep red or chest nut brown to an almost silvery grey. The mane, as well as the long hair of the other parts of the body, sometimes scarcely differs from the general colour, but it is usually darker and not unfrequently nearly black. The mane begins to grow when the animal is about three years old, and is fully developed at five or six. In size the lion is only equalled or exceeded by the tiger among the existing Felidse, ; though both species present great variations, the largest specimens of the latter appear to surpass the largest lions. A full-sized South African lion, according to Selous, measures slightly less than 10 feet from nose to tip of tail, following the curves of the body. Harris gives 10 feet 6 inches, of which the tail occupies 3 feet. The lioness is about a foot less. The internal structure of the lion, except in slight details, resembles that of the other Felidx, the whole organization being that of an animal modified to fulfil, in the most perfect degree yet attained, an active, predaceous mode of existence. The teeth especially exemplify the carnivorous FIG. 2. Front View of Skull of Lion. type in its highest condition of development. The most important function they have to perform, that of seizing and holding firmly animals of considerable size and strength, violently struggling for life, is provided for by the great, sharp-pointed, and sharp-edged canines, placed wide apart at the angles of the mouth, the incisors between them being greatly reduced in size and kept back nearly to the same level, so as not to interfere with their action. The jaws are short and strong, and the width of the zygornatic arches, and great development of the bony ridges on the skull, give ample space for the attachment of the powerful muscles by which they are closed. In the molar series of teeth the sectorial or scissor-like cutting function is developed at the expense of the tubercular or grinding, there being only one rudimentary tooth of the latter form in the upper jaw, and none in the lower. They are, however, sufficiently strong to break bones of large size. The dental formula is expressed as follows : incisors , canines |, premolars, molars i = ; total, 30. The tongue is long and flat, and remarkable for the development of the papilla? of the anterior part of the dorsal surface, which (except near the edge) are modified so as to resemble long, compressed, recurved, horny spines or claws, which, near the middle line, attain the length of one-fifth of an inch. They give the part of the tongue on which they occur the appearance and feel of a coarse rasp, and serve the purpose of such an instrument in cleaning the flesh from the bones of the animals on which the lion feeds. The vertebral