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A paper "On the Anatomy of the Cheetah, Felis jubata, Schreb.," 

 was read by Mr. Owen. It commenced by remarking on Felis as a 

 truly natūrai genus, and by observing that the anatoniical structure 

 of the animals composingit oft'ers even fewer differences than their 

 outward forms. The principai deviation from the common type is 

 that vvhich obtains in the organs of voice of the Lion (and, as Mr. 

 Martin Iias observed, in those of the Jaguar also), vvhere the larynx 

 is situated at a considerable distance from the posterior margin of 

 the bony palate, the soft palate and the tongue being proportionally 

 increased in length, and thus a gradually expanding passage is 

 Ibrmed, vvhich leads from the glottis, where the air is rendered so- 

 norous, to the mouth. This structure may contribute, in the Lion, 

 to produce the peculiar roar of that animal. 



In the Cats generaily, the connexion of tiie os hyoides to the cra- 

 nium is not by a long elastic ligament, as in the Lion, but by an 

 uninterrupted series of bones. This latter structure exists in the 

 Cheetah. The Cheetah has also the circular pupil of the Lion, Tiger, 

 Leopard, and Jaguar, and is perhaps the most diurnal of the genus. 



In the form of the cesophagus, and in the transverse rugce of its 

 lower half, the Clieetah agrees vvith the Lion ; and, as in it and in the 

 other Feles, the cesophagus is not prolonged into the abdomen, but 

 terminatcs immediately after passing through the diaphragm in the 

 stomach. This organ in the Cheetah has ail the peculiarities which 

 are found in the genus Felis. The intestines also agree in charac- 

 ter vvith those of that group; and the ccecian, as usual in it, is sim- 

 ple, haviug none of the convolution vvhich is found in the Dog. The 

 liver, pancreas, and spleen, resemble those of the Cats generaily; as 

 do also the kidneys in the arborescent form of their superficial veins : 

 a form, hovvever, equally common to the Viverridcc and the Felidce, 

 vvhich also agree in having spiculce on the tongue. 



The viscera of the thorai in the Cheetah agree vvith those of the 

 Cats. The lytta, or rudiment of the lingual bone, so conspicuous 

 in the Dog, is reduced in it, as in the other feline animals, to a small 

 vestige. 



There is, as in \he Feles generaily, no bone of ihe penis ; and the 

 glans, as usual in them, has retroverted papillee. 



The elastic ligaments of the ungual phalanges exist in the šame 

 number and position as those of the Lio7i ; they are, hovvever, longer 

 and more slender, their length alone occasioning the incomplete 

 retraction ofthe clavvs as compared vvith the ręst of the Felida. 



Mr. Ovven concluded by observing that in the circulating, respi- 

 ratory, digestive, and generative systems, the Cheetah conforms to 

 the typical structure of the genus Felis. 



