BROWN HYENA.—Crociita Brivnnea, 
together. The paws are nearly black. In the collection of the British Museum is a very 
young specimen, which, curiously enough, is devoid of the spots that mark its adult fur, 
thereby presenting a remarkable contrast to the animals which we have already mentioned. 
Hor example, the lion, which in mature age is of a uniform tawny hue, is covered when 
young with spots and stripes, which seem to partake equally of the tigrine and pardine 
character, The young puma, again, exhibits strongly marked spots of a deeper hue upon 
its pale tawny fur, and retains them for a considerable time. Indeed, even in the fur of 
an adult puma may be discerned the remnants of these maculations when the animal is 
placed in certain lights. The Striped Hyena, again, exhibits more decisive markings while 
young than after it has attained its full growth, and there are many other similar instances. 
These examples would seem to justify the idea, that the young of these and similar 
animals were deeper in their colouring than their parents. Yet, in direct opposition to 
this seeming rule, we find the young of the Spotted Hyena to possess a simple, ruddy, 
brown fwr, similar in colour to that of the Brown Hyena. It is worthy of notice, that 
whatever dark spots, stripes, or blotches exist upon an animal, whether in its young or its 
adult state, they may always be found either upon the back, following the line of the vertebree, 
or upon the legs. And even in those numerous cases where, as in the leopard, tiger, ocelot, 
and other striped and spotted animals, the dark markings are persistent through the entire 
life of the creature, these dark spots and stripes are always found to be more powerfully 
developed upon the spine and on the legs. JI would here offer a suggestion: that we may 
find a key to this curious enigma in the fact, that the darker fur seems, in these animals, to 
accompany the chief voluntary nerves, and therefore to become more conspicuous upon the 
