{129° ] 
XV. On the Anatomy of the Cheetah, Felis jubata, Schreb. By Ricuarp Owen, Esvq., 
F.Z.8., Assistant Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in 
London. 
Communicated September 10, 1833. 
N. ATURALE, si ullum, genus felinum est, is the expression of Hermann when about to 
enter upon the relations of this group in his ‘ Affinitates Animalium’; and yet the 
number of species which were then known was very considerable. Forster!, who had 
ascertained the existence of twenty one distinct species of the feline Carnivora, attempted 
to arrange them in three subdivisions; but the characters which he selected for that 
purpose were too artificial to ensure their adoption. Thus, for example, he associated 
the Cheetah, the subject of the present communication, with the Lion, on all hands 
acknowledged to be the type of the genus, and to manifest the peculiarities of the 
feline structure in the highest and noblest degree: but if we trace the deviations from 
this type as manifested by the gradual weakening of the legs and feet, and the deterio- 
ration of the claws as destructive and prehensile weapons, the Cheetah will be furthest 
removed from the Lion. If, on the other hand, we consider the deviation from the 
same type in the form of the ears, in the form of the pupil, and in the proportions of 
the tail, the Lynces of Forster are farther removed than the Cheetah, and indicate in 
these particulars the passage to the Genets. 
In their internal structure the differences of the Feles one from another are less 
easily appreciable than in their outward form. Perhaps the most marked among the 
anatomical variations obtains in the mode of attachment of the os hyoides to the cra- 
nium ; and this difference is evinced in the living animal by a difference in the variety 
and power of the voice. In the Lion an elastic ligament, about 6 inches in length, con- 
nects on each side the lesser cornu of the os hyoides with the styloid process: the liga- 
ment can be stretched to 8 or 9 inches. The larynex is consequently situated at a con- 
siderable distance from the posterior margin of the bony palate ; but the soft palate is 
prolonged backwards to opposite the aperture of the glottis, and the tongue is propor- 
tionately increased in length; thus a gradually expanding passage leads from the 
glottis, where the air is rendered sonorous, to the mouth; and it is not unlikely that 
the strong transverse ridges upon the bony palate may contribute, with the preceding 
trumpet-like structure, to give to the voice that intonation which is so aptly denomi- 
nated ‘‘ the roar of the lion.” 
» Phil. Trans., yol. lxxi: p. 1. 
