158 MamMALIA OF INDIA. 
their talons. Claws to a cat are of as great importance to him in the 
securing of his prey as are his teeth, The badger is a digger, Hodge, 
who carries his mattock 
on his shoulder ; but the 
feline is the free-lance 
whose sword must be 
kept keen in its scab- 
bard, so by a peculiar 
arrangement of muscles 
the points of the claws 
are kept off the ground, 
while the animal treads 
noiselessly on soft pads. 
Otherwise by constant 
abrasion they would get 
so blunted as to fail in 
af their penetrating and 
Tendons of Tiger’s toe. seizing power. I give 
here an illustration of 
the mechanism of the feline claw. In the upper sketch the claw is re- 
tracted or sheathed ; in the lower it is protruded as in the act of striking. 
The senses of hearing and smell are much developed, and the bulb of 
the ear (Ju//a tympani) is here found of the largest dimensions, I have 
-once before alluded to this in writing 
of the bears, in whom this arrange- 
ment is deficient. I give here a 
section of the auditory apparatus. 
Ido not know whether the engraver 
has effectually rendered my attempt 
at conveying an idea, based as it is 
on dissections by Professor Flower ; 
but if he has failed I think the fault 
lies in the shakiness of my hand in 
attempting the fine shading after 
nearly breaking a saw and losing 
my temper over a very tough old 
skull which I divided before commencing my illustration. The great 
cavity is the du//a tympani or bulb of the ear ; am is the auditory meatus 
or external hole of the ear. On looking into a dry skull the passage 
seems to be of no great depth, nor can an instrument be passed directly 
from the outside into the great tympanic cavity, the hindrance being 
a wall of bone, s, the septum which divides the dua into two distinct 
chambers, the reason for which is not very clear, except that one may 
suppose it to be in some measure for acoustic purposes, as all animals 
