7-20 



C A T. 



any but the largest and most powerful of the felines, 

 and only by them in cases of extremity. 



The shape of the head accords with this general 

 action of the mouth. The head is round, generally 

 flattened ; the jaws short ; the ears placed high on 

 the head, and a large space left on the cheek for the 

 insertion of those large and powerful muscles which 

 move the lower jaw. This form of head is not calcu- 

 lated for giving so effective a snapping bite as can be 

 given by those animals in which the jaws are long, 

 because the long jaw acquires a momentum, and cuts 

 by impulsive action, while the short jaws of this genus 

 cut more by pressure, like a knife. Thus the same 

 muscular action does not produce the same sharpness 

 of bite ; but it holds on much better, and this, 

 together with the tearing action is that which accords 

 best with the other structures, and with the habits of 

 the animal. We have an instance of this difference 

 of the action of long jaws and short ones in the hound 

 and bull dog. The deep mouthed hound gives a 

 powerful bite, but cannot retain his hold ; the bull 

 dog on the other hand does not bite so sharply in 

 proportion to his strength, but he is much more 

 staunch in keeping his hold. 



The paws and their armature are remarkably well 

 adapted for the offices which they perform. There 

 are five toes on each of the fore-feet, and four on the 

 hind, all of which are armed with very sharp crooked 

 claws, which have their inner or convex edges with 

 two trenchants or cutting ridges, like those of the more 

 formidable birds of prey. The fore paws are the 

 really efficient instruments in the capture of the prey; 

 and for this purpose they are furnished with very strong 

 bones, bones which in the largest and more powerful 

 species, are heavier in proportion, and also stiffer and 

 less liable to be broken, than the bones of any other 

 animals. By this means the paw becomes a very 

 formidable striking instrument ; and the stroke of it 

 fells a small animal to the ground as if it were struck 

 by a sledge hammer. It is, however, in the clutch of the 

 paw, and not in the stroke of it, that the chief use of 

 this formidable weapon exists. When the animal is in a 

 state of repose, or when it is prowling about in search of 

 its prey the claws are not visible; they are drawn back 

 into sheaths on the insides of the toes, so that their 

 points or their trenchant- edges are never blunted by 

 contact with the ground. This retraction of the claws is 

 not produced by any muscular effect on the part of the 

 animal, but it is the result of the mere elasticity of a 

 ligament which is attached to the last phalanx of the 

 toe that which carries the claw. This phalanx is 

 very short, its length being considerably less than its 

 height; and when the flexor muscles are not in 

 action, the ligament turns its back more than a 

 third of its circumference. Except the retraction 

 and repose which it receives from the elasticity of 

 this ligament, the claw, the phalanx to which it is 

 attached, and the muscles by which it is moved, when 

 occasion requires, do not come into play in the 

 common walking motions of the animal. The paw is 

 thus, if the expression may be admitted, a double 

 instrument, or perhaps even a triple one : it is a 

 walking foot, it is a clutching foot, and it is a striking 

 foot ; for when the animal merely hits a blow, the 

 claws are not protruded. The flexor muscles are, 

 however, very powerful ones when they do come into 

 action ; and as they are never fatigued by the com- 

 mon motions of the animal, they are always fresh 

 and ready for the attack. 



Besides the advantage to the action of the claws 

 themselves, which results from this structure, there is 

 another advantage in the general economy of the 

 animals. They are all prowlers, and Hers in wait, 

 seizing their prey by stratagem ; and as the soft part 

 only of their feet cornes in contact with the ground, 

 they move much more silently than any other ani- 

 mals ; and as they keep their eye fixed upon the 

 prey while they are endeavouring to approach so 

 near it as that it may be secured, they walk with 

 great circumspection ; and, as all their joints, though 

 fit for very energetic momentary action, are supple 

 and elastic, the}' plant their feet as if they were let 

 down upon both springs and cushions contrived with 

 the greatest delicacy. There is, indeed, no part of 

 their history more curious than the contrast which 

 the extreme softness of their foot-fall upon ordinary 

 occasions makes to the firmness and force with which 

 they strike, when the flexors of the last phalanges 

 are brought into action, and the claws all projected 

 in order to take effect. This part of their action, 

 never takes place, however, till they work themselves 

 to the utmost degree of excitement, which, in the 

 powerful ones is attended, and in all probability 

 heightened, by a very harsh, and by no means a 

 pleasant roar. It has been said that the object of 

 this roar is to confound and stupify the prey, so that 

 it shall not be able to escape ; but the spring follows 

 so instantaneously, that the prey is under both the 

 claws and the teeth before this note of terror is 

 heard; and if the animal is difficult to be overcome, 

 the preyer often finds it necessary to excite his 

 energy by fresh roars, and these are always attended 

 with a new wrench with the head, a new clutch with 

 the claws, and a violent convulsive action of the 

 whole body. 



In the more formidable species, which prey upon 

 large animals, and prey comparatively seldom, those 

 exhibitions are grand, though they are not either very 

 pleasant or very safe for near observers, and therefore 

 not very often seen. Those of the less powerful 

 ones, which prey upon birds and small quadrupeds, 

 are more of every day matter?, and they take place 

 oftener, and generally speaking, they take place 

 comparatively in silence; and when they growl over 

 their prey, it seems rather to be from fear of losing 

 it than from any other cause. 



As compared with the power which these animals 

 evince in their proper manner of preying, they are 

 feeble animals on their march. That looseness or 

 flexibility of all the joints which enables them to steal 

 so softly through the brakes and bushes, and come so 

 unexpectedly upon their prey, and which also enables 

 them to concentrate the action of their whole bodies 

 into the spring which they take, and into those 

 bounding leaps by which they endeavour to escape 

 from danger, is not well calculated for steady walking, 

 or long continued running. The more powerful the 

 animals are, the joints of the legs, and especially 

 those of the spine, are the more free in their articu- 

 lations ; and hence, when a lion, a tiger, or any of the 

 more formidable species, is seen moving about in his 

 prison house at the menagerie, his body may be ob- 

 served twining about in all directions, something like 

 that of a serpent. Indeed, though the animals belong 

 to different classes, there is more analogy between 

 the genus Felis and serpents, than one would at first 

 be apt to suppose. They are both carnivorous ; they 

 are both awkward in their progressive motion, and 



