MAMMALIA. 703 



4-4 



Family XXXIII. Felina. Molar teeth ^ — ^ , two false molars 



on each side in both jaws ; a single tuberculate tooth on each side 

 in upper jaw only, small, transverse. Digitigrade, with soles hairy, 



(Dental formula Owen, i. ^ — ^ , c. - — zr , p. - — ^ , m. z — =- = 30.) 



The digitigrades are those carnivores which run, hke the dog, the 

 cat, &c., on the digits only and not on the hand and the foot {carpus 

 and tarsus), in contradistinction to the 2)lantigrades, as the bears. 

 Of the digitigrades the feline genus forms a distinct family. No 

 genus of carnivores has a smaller number of molar teeth; hence 

 they have short jaws also. The head has a round contracted form. 

 With the exception of New Holland, they are met with in almost 

 every pai't of the world. The largest species live in warmer coun- 

 tries. 



Felis L. (Characters of the family. Fore feet pentadactylous, 

 hind feet tetradactylous. Claws retractile, in a few semi-retractile.) 



Compare on this genus G. Cuvier Especes vivantes de grands 

 chats, Ann. du Mus. xiv. pp. 136 — 164, (with figures of the skulls; 

 also multiplied in his Reclh. sur les Ossem. foss. iv. pp. 408 — 448); 

 Temminck Monogr. des Mamm. i. pp. 73 — 156. Linn.eus (in the 

 twelfth edition of his Syst. nat.) counted only 7 species of this 

 genus, the number of those now known is almost seven times 

 greater. 



Sp. Felis Leo Ij., Buff. ix. PI. i, 2, Scheeb. Sau[/ih. Tab. 97 a, b., Lacep. 

 Menag. du Mus. i. pp. 150 — 176 (fern.), Cuv. ibid. pp. 298 — 310 (male), 

 the skeleton in Pander und D'Alton Die Skelete der RaubtJiiere, Tab. i. 

 the lion ; single colour, yellowish-ruddy ; the tail with a bundle of longer 

 hair at the tip ; in the male a mane along the neck, which begins to be 

 formed in the third year, and in an Indian variety continues small, (Smee 

 Account of the maneless Lion of Guzerat, Zool. Tranmct. i. 2, pp. 165 — 174, 

 PI. 24).! The lioness bears her yoimg about 3 months ; the young come 

 into the world with darker stripes on the back and round spots. To what 

 age the lion may attain is unknown ; it is said that some have lived for 60 

 or 70 years in confinement in England. In the time of Xerxes lions were 

 still existing in Greece and attacked the camels of his army. (Herodot. 



^ On a homy point at the end of the tail compare G. Jaeger in Meckel's Archiv 

 fur Anat. u. Physiol, vi. 1832, s. 55, and E. Bekker Der Stachel des Lowen an 

 dessen Schweif-ende, Darmstadt, 1855, 8vo. 



