CATS AND DOGS. 57 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CARNIVORA CATS AND DOGS. 



FIVE species of carnivorous animals (exclusive of menagerie speci- 

 mens) have been introduced into New Zealand. Cats and dqgs 

 are domestic animals of which numerous individuals have gone wild 

 from time to time; while ferrets, stoats, and weasels have been 

 liberated and are now common. 



One of the most characteristic features of the land carnivora is 

 "the looseness of their skin, which, instead of being stretched on 

 the body as tightly as a drum-parchment, as it is in grass-eaters 

 for instance, the ox or hippopotamus is quite ' baggy,' having 

 between it and the flesh of the beast a layer of the loosest possible 

 fibres. It is for this reason that the skin of any but a very fat 

 dog can be pinched up so readily, while of an herbivore it may be 

 said, in the words of eulogy uttered by Mr. Squeers of his son 

 Wackford, ' Here's firmness, here's solidness ! Why, you can 

 hardly get up enough of him between your fingers and thumb to 

 pinch him anywheres.' ' As Parker says, "The use of this loose 

 skin will be very evident to any one who will take the trouble to 

 watch the great cats playing together at the Zoological Gardens. 

 They are continually scratching one another, but the loose skin is 

 dragged round by the claws, which in consequence can get no 

 hold and do no harm; with a tight skin, on the other hand, the 

 slightest scratch of such a claw as a tiger's would cause a serious 

 wound. The looseness of the skin is very evident in the puma 

 and jaguar, in which it hangs in a fold along the middle of the 

 belly, like a great dewlap." 



The skull is very strongly developed, and has great bony ridges 

 for the attachment of the jaw-muscles. In herbivorous animals 

 the brain-case is small and the face much prolonged; but in 

 carnivores especially cats the face is very short relatively to the 

 cranial portion of the skull. The higher carnivora cannot chew 

 or grind their food; they only tear it and mince it. Cats and dogs 

 walk on the toes, the under-surfaces of which are covered with 



