34 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



remain motionless, so long do they remain invisible. 

 But with the fall of the leaf and the gloomy days of 

 winter the character of the environment changes. Spots 

 no longer serve to conceal, but rather to advertise. 

 Accordingly, with the autumn a self-coloured coat is 

 assumed, which no less perfectly harmonises with the 

 barren ground and the bare stems of dried bracken and 

 other undergrowth. In the axis-deer, also a forest animal, 

 the spotted coat is worn the year round, and this because 

 it is happy in living in regions where the sombre pall of 

 winter is never spread. 



Of aU the instances of striped and spotted young which 

 as they attain maturity assume a self-coloured garb, 

 perhaps the most' striking, because somehow the most 

 unexpected, is that furnished by the case of the lion : 

 for young lion cubs show the most convincing proofs that 

 their forbears wore a livery displaying both spots and 

 stripes — which must be interpreted to mean that at 

 some remote period the lion, like the tiger, wore a coat 

 of stripes. Then the stripes gradually broke up to form 

 spots ; and finally, so far as the adults are concerned, 

 even these have disappeared, though they may be traced 

 even in full-grown lions, only vanishing completely when 

 they have become of full age. 



These facts are not so surprising as they may seem at 

 first sight, because, except for their different coloration, 

 and that the male lion wears a mane, the Uon and the 

 tiger are extraordinarily alike — so much so that only an 

 expert can distinguish the skeletons of the two animals, 

 and even here only by sHght differences in the skull. 

 These gradual changes of coloration, which have followed 

 one another in the life-history of the lion, must have 

 arisen in relation to changes in its haunts and habits. 



