FELID.E 207 



Suborder Fissipedia. Terrestrial Carnivores. 

 Limbs long, mobile, adapted for walking; toes free, with 

 long, sharp claws; first and fifth toes not longer than the others: 

 external ears well developed ; incisors three above and three below, 

 on each side of the middle ; a highly specialized premolar or molar 

 ('sectorial') cutting tooth behind the middle of each jaw. 



Family Felidae. ^Cats.) 



Digitigrade; front feet with five toes; hind feet with four 

 toes; claws retractile; tail long or short; upper surface of tongue 

 covered with sharp points, rasp^like; skull very short and broad; 

 rostrum very short ; teeth 28 or 30. 



The family of Cats is very generally distributed over the 

 world except in Australia. There are three living genera, and 

 over fifty species are now known. The food is principally the 

 flesh of animals caught by themselves. 



Cats are principally nocturnal in habit, terrestrial or some- 

 what arboreal. The seasonal changes of pelage are not great, the 

 sexes are alike in some species, more or less unlike in others, the 

 young often differ in color from adults and are usually spotted. 



Genus Felis Linn. (Cat.) 

 Tail from one fourth to one half the total length ; ears not 

 tufted; legs of moderate length; upper sectorial tooth (last pre- 

 molar) very large, with three cusps and an inner tubercle on a 

 separate root ; upper molar very small and placed inside the back 

 corner of the sectorial tooth; front upper premolar very small; 

 incisors small ; brain case narrow ; temporal crests parallel and 

 nearly united along the saggital suture; postorbital processes 

 small. 



Dental fonmila, I, 3—3; C, i— i ; P, 3—2; M, 1—1X2=30. 



