Cuhs of Lions and of Pumaa. 437 



similarly spotted or striped wlien young — that is to say, the 

 pattern undergoes no very marked change with growth, apart 

 from gaining or losing in distinctness. Even when it is 

 evanescent in the adult, such indications of it as are pre- 

 served coincide with the more clearly defined pattern of the 

 cub or kitten. It is therefore permissible to conclude that 

 those species in which the adult is self-coloured and the cub 

 variegated were marked as their cubs are marked and in no 

 other way. Hence the pattern of the cub must be treated 

 as a specific character, and may be regarded as affording a 

 most useful clue to affinity. Possibly, indeed, the true 

 relationships of some of the self-coloured species of Felis 

 will never be certainly ascertained until the pattern of the 

 foetal or newly born young is known. 



It is in the truth of the above-stated propositions that lie 

 the chief interest and importance of the pattern exhibited by 

 the cubs of lions and pumas. 



It is well known that the newly born cubs of those species 

 show a definite pattern of dark marks upon a tawny or pale 

 brown ground-colour; but although the presence of this 

 pattern has been cited repeatedly as evidence of the descent 

 of the species concerned from striped or spotted ancestors, 

 I am not aware that it has been used previousl}^ as a guide 

 in determining their affinities with other existing forms of 

 the genus Fells. 



Examination of a series of skins of lion cubs shows that 

 the pattern, which has been described sometimes as "spots,^' 

 sometimes as " stripes," varies considerably in intensity witli 

 individuals. The meaning of this variation is unknown to 

 me, since all the skins I have seen belong to specimens born 

 in menageries from parents of unknown geographical origin. 

 Sportsmen and collectors, unaware of the interest of the 

 question, have never apparently brought skins of wild-born 

 cubs from different localities. There are therefore no data 

 from which an opinion can be formed as to the local con- 

 stancy of the coloration of the cubs and of the value of the 

 variation, if any, in taxonomy. 



One of the best-marked examples I have seen was boi-n at 

 the Clifton Zoological Gardens in the spring of 1904 and 

 is preserved in the Bristol Museum. An account of it was 

 pubhshed* by Mr. Herbert Bolton, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., the 

 curator; and I am indebted to him for kindly lending 

 me this and one other specimen for examination and 

 description f. 



* Proc. Bristol Society, (2) x. pp. 248-249 (1904). 

 t I have also seen other specimens in the Bristol Museum and in the 

 Museum of the Zoological Gardens at Clifton, where they were bred. 



