CHAPTER 11. 



THE cat's GEXEHAL EOP.M. — THE SKIN AND ITS ATPENDAGES. 



§ 1. The cat's entire fi-amc is divisible into head, neck, trunk, tail, 

 and limbs, of wliicli latter there are two pairs. _ Its body is every- 

 where more or less closely invested by a firm skin, nevertheless this 

 is loosely attached in certain parts and so forms folds here and there, 

 as e.^., between the trunk and the elbow and knee respectively. Its 

 skin is almost entirely clothed with hair, which is generally of 

 moderate length, often being longer on the belly and tail than else- 



Ti'j;. 1.— Cat's JIi'zzle, shov/ino Vibriss.e and Xakhd Skin afottt tiik Nostrils. 



whore ; but the length of the hair varies, as we have scon, according 

 to the breed to which dilferont cats may belong. _ It is, however, 

 always short on the paws and face. The hairs are directed backwards 

 from the head to the tail, and, for the most part, downwards on the 

 limbs. There are long hairs inside each oar and sometimes on its tip, 

 and about a dozen very long and strong hairs— the whiskers or 

 ribrimc — arc placed on each ujjper lip. There arc also a few long 

 hairs over each eye, or eyebrows, but there are no eyelashes. 

 The end of the nose, the lips, and the skin of the fleshy pads 

 beneath tlie paws, are naked. 



