A CASE OF A SYNDACTYLOUS CAT 73 



attracted attention. In addition to inability to flex the bones 

 normally, there was an abnormal muscular condition. The 

 emaciated condition of the cat made dissection of the muscles 

 of the feet difficult, but certain facts were discernable. There 

 were no flexor muscles for the claws so that they could not be 

 retracted. The plan of the musculature followed the skeletal 

 plan, in general. Where the bones of the two digits were rep- 

 resented by single bones, the muscles were correspondingly 

 represented by single muscles in the main. Certain muscles 

 seemed to be lacking entirely and all were degenerate. 



Fig. 11 Ventral view of the fore feet of the abnormal cat showing the abnormal 

 condition of the pads. 



Even the pads show an irregular condition (figs. 11 and 12) 

 and those of the fore feet are again the more abnormal. A com- 

 parison of the diagrams of the normal (figs. 14 and 16) and 

 abnormal (figs. 13 and 15) pads makes the discrepancies at once 

 obvious. The pad usually found on the pollex of the first digit 

 of the fore foot is found on the abnormal paws (figs. 13 and 14, a). 

 The four pads normally found on the other digits (fig. 14, b, 

 c, d, e) are represented on the paws of the abnormal cat by one 

 large pad (fig. 13, b). The three lobed metacarpal pads normally 

 found (fig. 14, /) are represented in the abnormal condition by 



