CHAP. XIV.] 



THE CATS HEXIGOLOGY. 



509 



enemies ; for we have seen that the tiger will even carry off and 

 devour a wounded individual of its own species. 



The direct enemies of the largest and most powerful cats must be 

 few ; since the great beasts which may successfully contend with 

 them elephants, rhinoceroses, &c. being herbivorous creatures, 

 are not impelled by hunger to pursue and attack them. The smaller 

 cats no doubt occasionally fall a prey to other carnivora, but who- 

 ever has seen a dog attack a cat, and has noted the combined ferocity 

 and dexterity which the cat can exhibit with its very efficiently armed 

 paws, may well doubt whether wild-cats of any kind will often be 

 successfully attacked by any creatures not overwhelmingly superior 

 to them in size and strength. 



10. Against other enemies, however, of a very different kind, even 

 the largest cats have no power of resistance. Such enemies are their 

 internal and external PARASITES. These chiefly belong to the sub- 

 kingdom Vermes. The first group is that of the thread-worms 

 (Nematoidea). Of these there are several species which find a home 

 in the body of the cat. They are * Ascaris mystax, Trichina spiralis t 

 Trichosoma cati, Oxyuris compar, Strongylus tubceformis, and Olulanus 

 tricuspis. The second group is that of the flukes (Trematoda) , of which 

 there are not less than three kinds, namely, Distoma lanceolatum, Am- 

 phistoma truncation, and Hemistoma cordatum. The third group, 

 that of the tape-worms (Teniada), is represented by at least eight 

 species as follows: Tcenia elliptica, Tcenia crassicollis, Tcenia 

 semiteres (Baird), Tcenia litterata (Tcenia canis-lagopodis), Tcenia 

 lineata, Bothriocephalus felis, and Bothriocephalus decipiens. The 

 Cysticercus ccllulosce, or larva of Tcenia solium, has been obtained 

 from beneath the scapula, and Engelmayer found a Ccenurus in a 

 cat's liver. 



Dr. Spencer Cobbold has observed,! " Every owner of cats must 

 have, from time to time, noticed the frequent occurrence of sickness 

 amongst these animals ; such fits of vomiting usually terminating in 

 the expulsion of worms from the mouth. The internal parasites 

 causing these attacks are small nematodes (Ascaris mystax} occupy- 

 ing the stomach ; the females being nearly twice as long as the 

 males, and sometimes measuring as much as four inches. Strongylus 

 tubceformis is occasionally found in the upper intestine, and Trichina 



spiralis has been reared in the cat by experiment The most 



important of all the feline nematodes is a little worm, Olulanus 

 tricuspis. Whilst the full-grown Olulanus only measures about ~ T 

 of an inch, its embryos are, for so small a creature, of almost gigantic 

 size. The adult worm resides in the lining membrane of the stomach. 

 The young of this parasite, like young Trichina, are apt to migrate within 

 the body of the feline host. They thus become encysted within the 

 lungs and liver ; but not in any other of the visceral organs. I have 



* For the list here given I am indebted 

 to the kindness of my friend Dr. T. Spencer 

 Cobbold, F.R.S. 



f See his work on The Internal Parasites 

 of our Domesticated Animals, p. 124; and 

 his more recent work on Parasites, p. 308. 



