Useful for natural ids or in case you have your own strategy to create a unique id:
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.Id;
@Entity
public class Lion implements Serializable {
@Id
private Integer id; <class name="Lion" table="lion">
<id name="id">
<generator class="assigned"></generator>
</id>
....... snip .......