The cats. 5 



in the lower jaw they are true molars, or have no such deciduous 

 predecessors. In the Cats these teeth attain the largest and 

 most specialised development in the entire carnivorous Order. 



The whole of the Cats are graceful and elegantly made animals, 

 showing a marked general similarity in structure and appear- 

 ance, although one species — the Hunting-Leopard — differs so 

 markedly from all the other living representatives of the family, 

 as to necessitate its reference to a genus {Cynalurus) apart from 

 the rest. All are remarkable for their strength and agility, but 

 while some are arboreal in their habits, others are terrestrial. 

 Many, moreover, are more or less exclusively nocturnal animals, 

 and all have the power of preventing during the daytime the en- 

 trance of. too much light into their large and full eyes — so ad- 

 mirably adapted to receive every gleam of light during their 

 nocturnal wanderings — by diminishing the size of the pupil by 

 the contraction of the retina, or coloured portion of the eye, 

 as will be fully explained in the sequel. Having highly 

 developed senses and mental powers, the Cats are ill-adapted to 

 become the servants or companions of man, even the domestic 

 breeds only associating with him to a great extent as a matter 

 of convenience to themselves, and never sympathising and con- 

 fiding in him after the manner of a Dog. Indeed, unlike the 

 latter, it requires but little inducement to make even the most 

 affectionate of Domestic Cats revert to the wild life of her 

 ancestors, and whenever such an animal does escape to the 

 woods it has little difficulty in accustoming itself to the new 

 conditions, whereas, under similar circumstances, most Dogs 

 would soon die of starvation. As a matter of fact, the whole 

 of the Cat tribe are of but little importance to mankind, with 

 the exception of the domesticated races, their only use being 

 as a source of handsome and valuable furs. 



Subsisting almost, or quite exclusively, upon flesh, and pre- 

 ferring a living prey to one which has been killed for them by 



