of the tender life of nature and of the vegetation destroyed by the fiery heat of the dog-star.
The chief work on the subject is H. Brugsch, Die Adonisklage und das Linoslied (1852); see also article in Roscher’s Lexikon der Mythologie; J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough (ii. 224, 253), where, the identity of Linus with Adonis (possibly a corn-spirit) being assumed, the lament is explained as the lamentation of the reapers over the dead corn-spirit; W. Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldculte, ii. 281.
LINZ, capital of the Austrian duchy and crownland of Upper
Austria, and see of a bishop, 117 m. W. of Vienna by rail. Pop.
(1900) 58,778. It lies on the right bank of the Danube and is
connected by an iron bridge, 308 yds. long, with the market-town
of Urfahr (pop. 12,827) on the opposite bank. Linz
possesses two cathedrals, one built in 1669–1682 in rococo style,
and another in early Gothic style, begun in 1862. In the Capuchin
church is the tomb of Count Raimondo Montecucculi, who died
at Linz in 1680. The museum Francisco-Carolinum, founded
in 1833 and reconstructed in 1895, contains several important
collections relating to the history of Upper Austria. In the
Franz Josef-Platz stands a marble monument, known as Trinity
Column, erected by the emperor Charles VI. in 1723, commemorating
the triple deliverance of Linz from war, fire, and
pestilence. The principal manufactories are of tobacco, boat-building,
agricultural implements, foundries and cloth factories.
Being an important railway junction and a port of the Danube,
Linz has a very active transit trade.
Linz is believed to stand on the site of the Roman station Lentia. The name of Linz appears in documents for the first time in 799 and it received municipal rights in 1324. In 1490 it became the capital of the province above the Enns. It successfully resisted the attacks of the insurgent peasants under Stephen Fadinger on the 21st and 22nd of July 1626, but its suburbs were laid in ashes. During the siege of Vienna in 1683, the castle of Linz was the residence of Leopold I. In 1741, during the War of the Austrian Succession, Linz was taken by the Bavarians, but was recovered by the Austrians in the following year. The bishopric was established in 1784.
See F. Krackowitzer, Die Donaustadt Linz (Linz, 1901).
LION (Lat. leo, leonis; Gr. λέων). From the earliest historic
times few animals have been better known to man than the lion.
Its habitat made it familiar to all the races among whom human
civilization took its origin. The literature of the ancient Hebrews
abounds in allusions to the lion; and the almost incredible
numbers stated to have been provided for exhibition and destruction
in the Roman amphitheatres (as many as six hundred on
a single occasion by Pompey, for example) show how abundant
these animals must have been within accessible distance of Rome.
Even within the historic period the geographical range of the lion covered the whole of Africa, the south of Asia, including Syria, Arabia, Asia Minor, Persia and the greater part of northern and central India. Professor A. B. Meyer, director of the zoological museum at Dresden, has published an article on the alleged existence of the lion in historical times in Greece, a translation of which appears in the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1905. Meyer is of opinion that the writer of the Iliad was probably acquainted with the lion, but this does not prove its former existence in Greece. The accounts given by Herodotus and Aristotle merely go to show that about 500 B.C. lions existed in some part of eastern Europe. The Greek name for the lion is very ancient, and this suggests, although by no means demonstrates, that it refers to an animal indigenous to the country. Although the evidence is not decisive, it seems probable that lions did exist in Greece at the time of Herodotus; and it is quite possible that the representation of a lion-chase incised on a Mycenean dagger may have been taken from life. In prehistoric times the lion was spread over the greater part of Europe; and if, as is very probable, the so-called Felis atrox be inseparable, its range also included the greater part of North America.
At the present day the lion is found throughout Africa (save in places where it has been exterminated by man) and in Mesopotamia, Persia, and some parts of north-west India. According to Dr W. T. Blanford, lions are still numerous in the reedy swamps, bordering the Tigris and Euphrates, and also occur on the west flanks of the Zagros mountains and the oak-clad ranges near Shiraz, to which they are attracted by the herds of swine which feed on the acorns. The lion nowhere exists in the table-land of Persia, nor is it found in Balūchistān. In India it is confined to the province of Kathiawar in Gujerat, though within the 19th century it extended through the north-west parts of Hindustan, from Bahāwalpur and Sind to at least the Jumna (about Delhi) southward as far as Khāndesh, and in central India through the Sagur and Narbuda territories, Bundelkund, and as far east as Palamau. It was extirpated in Hariāna about 1824. One was killed at Rhyli, in the Dumaoh district, Sagur and Narbuda territories, so late as in the cold season of 1847–1848; and about the same time a few still remained in the valley of the Sind river in Kotah, central India.
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| After a Drawing by Woll in Elliot’s Monograph of the Felidae. |
| Fig. 1.—Lion and Lioness (Felis leo). |
The variations in external characters which lions present, especially in the colour and the amount of mane, as well as in the general colour of the fur, indicate local races, to which special names have been given; the Indian lion being F. leo gujratensis. It is noteworthy, however, that, according to Mr F. C. Selous, in South Africa the 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 genus Felis of Linnaeus (for the characters and position of which see Carnivora), and differs from the tiger and leopard in its uniform colouring, and from all the other Felidae in the hair of the top of the head, chin and neck, as far back as the shoulder, being not only much longer, but also differently disposed from the hair elsewhere, being erect or directed forwards, and so constituting the characteristic 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 middle line of the under surface of the body, wanting, however, in some examples. These characters are, however, peculiar to the adults of the male sex; and even as regards coloration young lions show indications of the darker stripes and mottlings so characteristic of the greater number of the members of the genus. The usual colour of the adult is yellowish-brown, but it may vary from a deep red or chestnut 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 is usually darker and not
