Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-19

where it was turned over to the taxider-
mist, Mr.. William Palmer, to be skinned
and mounted, and in few days it will
be on exhibition in the animal hall of the
museum building, the only specimen of the
kind in America.
Nucleus of Remarkable Collection.
This animal, together with young tiger,
is intended to form the nucleus of q col
lection. which it is hoped in time will stand
unrivaled in any museum in the world. At
present there are available the young of
many animals. including leopards, bears,
Wildcats and panthers, together with those
of many of the smaller and more common
pecies, which at present are laid away in
the shape of skins These will now proba-
bly, be brought out and gradually put into
shape until quite a creditable showing will
be the result. The value of such display
to students can hardly be overestimated,
while to the working naturalist it will be
Indispensable. Without question 1T is re-
garded as one of the best steps the mu-
scum has taken for a long time, and should
he encouraged in every possible manner.
Mr.. Blackburn, the head keeper, in speak
ing of this recent acquisition, says that
while lions breed very frequently in cap
tivity. still very few of their young find
their way into mounted collections. Four
or five is the usual number of the litter,
and in large filters two generally are apt
to turn sickly and die at an early age,
paralysis being the general cause, due
free supply of earth. The few that find
their way to museums are made up into
skins and stored away and as result,
not single specimen of the young lion as
he appears at birth has been on exhibition
in this country up to the present time.
The British museum has two In the ia
nous East Indian collection. the Dublin
museum has. l think, one. but in our own,
and q national museum at that, 1t has
been a matter of chagrin that in its large
and almost boundless collection there was
not a single young lion.'
The Lion Cub.
'The little lion died when he was four
days old and weighed just one and a half
pounds. He bore no resemblance whate yer
to his mother, and l doubt very much if
one not knowing could tell what it is.
Every one knows the color of the adult
lion, but the little cub is spotted all over in
very much the same manner leopard.
These spots are of two distinct colors, dark
brown and fawn color, and down each side
of the spine is a single row of the dark
brown spots. and these gradually shade off
into lighter and lighter spots the belly
is reached where the fawn color is very
noticeable. In comparing the dead cub wi
the three remaining, quite a difference is
already noticeable. First as to growth, for
the others have fairly doubled in size.
Moreover, the spots which were very faint
and just noticeable at birth, are now SO
pronounced as to lead one to think that
that is to be their final appearance
Strange as it may seem, this is far more
prominent in the female than in the male.
So we see that in the matter of adornment
the gentler lin this case the more saw
age) in animals is by no means out of
style
Mr.. Blackburn says that these spots re-
main until the age OF five months is reach
ed, when the dark ones gradually begin TO
disappear. and the lighter ones are not all
gone until the animal is about year and
a half old
1t was just ten days before the little fell
lows saw daylight. The eyes are light wa
terry blue. resembling very much those of
the young Of the common house cat and it
was exceedingly amusing to see them with