FAMILY. 



Head short, broad. Feet digitigrade ; five toea before, four behind. Claws retractile into a sheath. Molars, (with pre 

 molars,) l| or |^|. Incisors, -f. Posterior upper molar, (true molar,) very small. 



By the retractile and very sharp and compressed claws, the cats are very readily distinguished 

 from the closely allied members of the order Camivora. Here, too, the dentition is reduced to 

 its simplest elements among all those mammals having incisors, canines, and molars. The 

 entire number of mature teeth consists of 28 or 30, namely, incisors ^, canines |^, premolars, 

 ^, molars l ^\. The true or permanent molars are only one in each jaw, on either side, reduced 

 to the minimum of development ; usually with but one fang. 



As in the Canidae, the hind feet have but four toes ; the anterior, five. The soles are densely 

 hairy, with naked pads under each toe and on the ball of the foot. The inner toe of the fore 

 foot is placed nearly at the same level with the others, and provided with a strong claw. The 

 tongue is covered with sharp prickles, pointing backwards, which, in the larger species, can 

 readily draw blood by scratching off the skin. 



The canines of the Felidae are very well developed, and more or less curved ; they are usually 

 slightly compressed, very much so in the extinct Machairodus ; there is an anterior and poste 

 rior ridge serrulated in Machairodus. In most living cats, the upper canines exhibit each two 

 longitudinal furrows on the outer side, sometimes obliterated by age. The posterior molar of 

 the upper jaw, the only permanent molar, is very small, (not visible from outside,) and its crown 

 is transverse ; anterior to this is the large sectorial tooth, a premolar, with a smaller tricuspid 

 one in front of it. The first premolar is very small, and wanting altogether in Lynx. In the 

 lower jaw the posterior (true) molar is sectorial with two smaller compressed premolars anterior 

 to it. The second upper, and first and second lower premolars, are trilobed, the central lobe 

 highest, the lateral sometimes with accessory notches or lobes. 



In osteological characteristics, and especially in the structure of the skull and teeth, the 

 Fdidae exhibit a close relationship. In America, however, there may be distinguished two 

 primary living forms, one with compact fur, long tail, high shoulders, and with four molars 

 above ; the other with loose, sometimes very long fur, without the brilliancy of the other 

 division ; short truncated tail, pencilled ears, high hind legs, and but three upper molars on 

 each side. The former embraces the typical cats of the restricted genus Felis the latter the 

 species of Lynx. The extinct genus Machairodus, and perhaps another, is found among the 

 remains of the Mauvaises Terres. 



