CAT. 



721 



they both dart or spring upon their prey with the 

 whole accumulated energy of their bodies ; and 

 though the serpent swallows its prey entire, while 

 the Felines rend theirs to pieces, and even file 

 and grind the bones with their prickly tongues and 

 formidable teeth, there is still a .considerable resem- 

 blance in their methods of capture. 



There is reason to believe that the sense of hearing 

 in these animals is very acute, both from the very 

 perfect development of their ears, and from their habits. 

 Many of them prey only in the woods, and all of them 

 lurk in brakes and thickets, and therefore very quick 

 hearing is essential both to their discovering their 



frey, and preventing that prey from discovering them, 

 t is also a well-known law in the economy of animals, 

 that those which walk softly in proportion to their 

 weight are always very quick in the ear. This ex- 

 tends even to human beings, among whom it is found 

 that those who walk lightly have quick ears, while a 

 dull ear and a heavy step are always associated 

 together. 



What is called the sense of touch appears to be 

 very acute, at least in certain parts of the skin of these 

 animals. The skin of the upper lip, from which the 

 long bristly hairs, called whiskers, grow, is so very 

 sentient as to feel the least bending or touch of any 

 one of those hairs ; and by this means they become 

 important instruments in keeping the animal free from 

 contact with obstacles while it is advancing with its 

 eyes intently fixed on its prey. The inside of the 

 ears appears also to be lined with skin of great sensi- 

 bility, because it is impossible to touch the hairs on 

 these parts so lightly as not to attract the attention 

 of the animal. On the other hand the sense of taste 

 is supposed to be rather weak, because of the particu- 

 lar manner in which the tongue is covered, and also 

 the small supply of nerves with which that organ is 

 provided. It is possible, however, that these supposi- 

 tions are not very well founded, for these animals show 

 verj' considerable discrimination, and even daintiness 

 in the choice of their food ; and though the callous 

 papillae on the tongue may diminish the sense of 

 taste in that organ, yet it is certain that the general 

 covering of the interior of the mouth is exceedingly 

 sensitive, as is seen by administering a very small 

 quantity of mustard, pepper, or any other pungent 

 substance to a domestic cat. 



There is no question, however, that the grand 

 organ of perception in this genus of animals is the 

 eye. In all of them it is large, prominent, and bril- 

 liant, and capable of considerable variations of lustre, 

 and even of colour, in different states of excitement. 

 Some of them have the pupil contracting to a point, 

 and others to a line, though in all it is circular when 

 distended to the utmost size to which it admits. Upon 

 this form, to which the pupil of the eye contracts, it 

 has sometimes been attempted to establish a division 

 of the genus into diurnal and nocturnal preyers. But 

 it does not appear that this is a very legitimate ground 

 of distinction, nor is it easy to see for what reason it 

 should be one. The form of the pupil has really 

 nothing to do with the acuteness of vision, or the 

 quantity of light, which may be necessary for enabling 

 the animal to find its prey. The sensibility of the 

 eye, the small quantity of sight which is sufficient for 

 exciting the retina, is the ground upon which vision in 

 twilight more immediately depends ; and a superior 

 degree of sensibility in the retina is in all cases, which 

 are open to observation, attended by a similar sensi- 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



bility of the iris, and probably also of the whole 

 structure of the eye. It is not because the eyes of 

 nocturnal birds have the iris contracted to a particu- 

 lar form, neither is it because their eyes are weaker 

 than those of diurnal birds, that they see with diffi- 

 culty in the bright light of the day. On the other 

 hand, it is to the perfection of their eyes that they 

 owe this apparent weakness. The eye, the iris espe- 

 cially, is so powerfully excited by strong light, the 

 tendency of which is always to contract the pupil in 

 the exact ratio of its sensibility, that the eye of the 

 nocturnal bird becomes absolutely closed in bright 

 light, not by the action of the eyelids, but by that of 

 the iris. The same law, of course, regulates the 

 vision of nocturnal mammalia ; and, as in the other 

 case, their vision must be supposed to be acute in 

 proportion as they are able to see in a fainter light. 

 The form to which the pupil contracts a circle, a 

 vertical oval, or a horizontal one, for it has these three 

 forms in different animal?, the first tending to close 

 in a point, and the others in lines in the direction of 

 the transverse axis of the oval/has reference not to 

 the necessary intensity of vision, but to the direction 

 of the plane in which the animal has most occasion 

 for a greater range of it. The round pupil contract- 

 ing to a point is found in animals which have occasion 

 to use the eyes with nearly equal readiness and effect 

 in all directions, vertical, horizontal, or oblique ; the 

 eye with the vertical axis is found in those which 

 have most occasion to use their eyes in the vertical 

 plane, especially above them ; and the eye with the 

 horizontal axis is found in those which have most 

 occasion to use them in the horizontal plane. Thus 

 in the dog, which ranges the wide field for its sub- 

 sistence, the pupil is round ; in the cat, which, in a 

 state of nature, feeds in the copse?, either upon small 

 quadrupeds on the ground under it, or on birds in the 

 ^branches above, has the greatest power of the eyes 

 in the vertical direction, that is, when they contract 

 they contract laterally, and preserve their vertical 

 range ; and in the hare, which has most occasion for 

 view in the lateral direction only, the pupil contracts 

 to a horizontal line. These contractions have, how- 

 ever, nothing to do with the quantity of light which 

 is necessary for enabling the eye to see with the 

 greatest perfection, only a powerful contraction of 

 the iris is never given, except w hen the eye is a very 

 important organ in the economy of the animal ; and, 

 therefore, it is only in such eyes that those differences 

 in the form of the pupil can be perceived. Hence, 

 though some species of the genus Felts have circular 

 pupils and others elongated ones, no conclusion can 

 be drawn from these differences with regard to the 

 time at which the animals seek their prey ; though 

 there will be found a considerable accordance between 

 the form of the eye and the usual or natural haunt. 

 Thus the lion, which, though he lurks in bushes and 

 thickets, generally preys upon animals which are in 

 the open places, and also has his haunt in places so 

 bare as that he can see what is going on around him, 

 has the pupil round. The tiger, on the other hand, 

 which frequents the grassy bottoms and jungles of 

 much richer places, where the vegetation interrupts 

 the lateral view, has the pupil elongated in the verti- 

 cal direction. 



We shall see afterwards that the structure of the 



tiger, as well as this formation of the eye, adapts him 



fur those bottoms of tall grasses and reeds in which 



he is usually found, while that of the lion fits him 



3 G 



