14 LLOYD’S NATORAL HISTORY, 
animal of the tribe is licking a bone, which is too powerful for 
his strong jaws to break. It is suited more for laceration, and 
to retain the food within the mouth, than for an organ of 
taste; and the gustatory nerves are comparatively small, and 
distributed principally to the muscles. Inthe different species, 
these papille have by no means the same arrangement, for 
some are in straight rows, while others run in straight lines. 
Most persons are familiar with the peculiar sensation produced 
on the skin of the hand when licked by a Domestic Cat, but 
by the Lion or Tiger much more marked traces of the opera- 
tion would be left. 
Aliusion has already been made to the alteration in the size 
of the pupil of the eye of the Cats by the contraction of the 
iris under the influence of light ; and it may be added that the 
contraction likewise produces an alteration in the form of the ex- 
posed pupil, which varies from a circle to a narrow, more or less — 
oat-shaped vertical slit. ‘The subject of the contraction of the 
iris and the consequent form of the pupil has recently been in- 
vestigated by Dr. G. L. Johnson, the results of whose observa- 
tions have been published in the ‘‘Proceedings of the Zoologi- 
cal Society” for 1894. After examining no less than 180 
Domestic Cats, all of whose eyes were subjected to the same 
degree of illumination, it was found that the shape of the pupil 
varied from a perfect circle toa pointed oval. No general rule 
could, however, be established with regard to this variation, 
except, perhaps, that in the so-called blue tabbies no oval pupils 
were detected. And it appears that neither the colour of the 
iris nor the sex of the animal have any bearing on the shape 
of the pupil. 
“The only condition,” writes Dr. Johnson, “ which appears 
to have an influence on the shape of the pupil seems to be 
age. My observations on the above-mentioned Cats, and on 
a number of others, all lead me to the conclusion that the 
