10 LLOYD’S NA#BRAL HISTORY. 
its being pushed backwards in the rapid movement of the 
paws; and the two portions of the bone form a kind of hook, 
or crochet. In repose, the superior extremity of this phalange 
is placed almost vertically, while the other end lies nearly 
parallel to the second joint. The articulation is situated at 
the upper end of the vertical portion, and the flexor tendons, 
passing over the upper part of the bone, are firmly fixed to 
the other portion. The action of the deep-seated flexor—the 
flexor profundus—causes the whole bone to move through an 
angle of ninety degrees round the end of the second phalange. 
This last phalange is kept in its retracted condition by the 
tendon a, which passes from the extensor tendon up to the 
base of the superior or first phalange, and also by the elastic 
ligaments J and ¢, proceeding by double heads from the ten- 
dinous expansion at the top of the second phalange, and form- 
ing bands on each side to unite at the palmar base of the 
claw. From the twisted form of the second phalange, the first 
does not move over its end in the same plane, but on retraction 
falls a little to the outer side. In the figure, d indicates the 
strong round tendon of the flexor profundus, which passes 
over the superior extremity of the last phalange to e, as over a 
pulley, thus giving prodigious power to the action of its 
muscle. This tendon does not arise, as in man, directly 
from the belly of the muscle, but from a flat irregular cartila- 
ginous body, 234 inches long and 1% broad, attached to the 
lower end of the muscle, and sliding between the annular liga- 
ment and a very thick fascia covering the bottom of the fore- 
paw; from this substance five very strong tendons proceed to 
the fingers, which perforate the tendons of the sublimus nearly 
as in other animals. They are strongly strapped down, as seen 
in the figure. 
In all the more typical Cats the head is remarkable for its 
rounded and shortened form, while the jaws are likewise 
