THE CAT TRIBE 357 



tive of Carnivores in general ; while their strength is so great that the larger 

 species are enabled to kill and drag away animals of far greater bulk than their 

 own. 



The essential characteristics of the living cats are to be found in the extreme 

 shortness of their muzzles ; in the reduction of the number of their teeth far below 

 that in the more generalized Carnivores, such as the dogs ; in the powerful develop- 

 ment of their tusks and flesh-teeth ; and in their strongly -curved and retractile 

 claws, as well as in the free and supple movements of their fore- paws. Omitting 

 mention of certain features distinctive of the skulls of the cats and their nearest 

 allies, as requiring a considerable amount of special knowledge of osteology, we 

 may particularize somewhat more fully the leading characteristics of the cats of the 

 present day. And we say those of the present day advisedly, since the researches 

 of palaeontologists have now brought to light the remains of a large number of Car- 

 nivores, many of which, although they must undoubtedly be called cats, differ from 

 the existing species by the greater number of their teeth, as well as by many other 

 structural peculiarities, so as to render it difficult to draw any well-marked distinc- 

 tion between cats and civets. 



We may first of all notice that, as a general rule, they have 30 teeth, of 

 which f are incisors, y canines, f premolars, and $ molars. Occasionally, however, 

 there may be only two premolars on each side of the upper jaw, thus reducing the 

 total number of teeth to twenty-eight. Thus a cat has at most only three or four 

 cheek-teeth on each side of the upper jaw, of which the last but one is the flesh- 

 tooth ; while in the lower jaw there are but three of these teeth, of which the last is 

 the flesh-tooth. The upper flesh-tooth is of the same general type as that of the 

 hyaena's tooth shown in the figure on p. 356; its blade consisting of three dis- 

 tinct cutting lobes^. and usually having a distinct tubercle on the inner side, 

 although this tubercle is always smaller than in the hyaenas, and may be wanting. 

 The lower flesh-tooth is also of the same general type as that of the hyaenas (of 

 which an example will be found figured under the head of that group), and consists 

 only of the two-lobed blade, without any trace of the inner cusp or hinder heel, 

 which form such important elements in the corresponding teeth of the dogs and 

 civets. The flesh-teeth of the cats have, indeed, lost the whole of those elements 

 which are adapted for masticating or bruising food, and are reduced simply to the 

 condition of cutters. Moreover, the single molar remaining in the upper jaw is of 

 such small size that it can be of but little, if any, use as a masticating agent ; and 

 we accordingly find that the dentition of the cats is adapted solely for seizing their 

 prey, and subsequently devouring it by cutting off the flesh from the bones by the 

 scissor-like action of the flesh-teeth. Any person who has watched a domestic cat 

 eating a piece of meat, or who has observed a captive lion or tiger shearing off huge 

 morsels from its allotted meal, will fully understand the mode of action of these 

 teeth. In all cats the tusks, or canines, are very long and strong, and frequently 

 have their hinder border forming a sharp cutting edge, by which their rending 

 power is of course much increased. An important feature distinguishing the lower 

 incisor teeth of the cats from those of all other Carnivores is to be found in the cir- 

 cumstance that the whole series of six are placed in the same straight transverse 



