248 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



until they are needed. Then the claws shoot out of 

 their sheaths as if pushed by a spring, and the vel- 

 vet paw of a moment ago becomes a horrible harpoon 

 that implants itself in the flesh and rends the prey 

 in most sanguinary fashion." 



"If I give the cat's paw a little squeeze with my 

 fingers/' said Emile, "the claws come out of their 

 sheaths; if I stop squeezing, the claws go in 

 again." 



' i That is just what the cat can do at will. Let us 

 examine this curious mechanism more closely. The 

 little terminal bone of the toes, the one that bears 

 the claw, is fastened to the preceding little bone by 

 an elastic ligament, the effect of which, in a state of 

 repose, is to raise the first bone and rest it on top 

 of the second. Suppose that the tips of your fingers 

 had play enough to fold back : there you have an ex- 

 act representation of the process. In this position 

 of the terminal bone the claw is held 

 upright, half sunk in a fold of the skin 

 and hidden under the thick fur of the 

 paw." 



"I understand," said Jules; "then 

 it is a velvet paw; the claws are in 

 their sheaths." 



"Promptly, at the call to arms, the 

 cat has but to will it, and its claws 

 spring out. Look at this picture of a 

 cat's paw and notice what appears to 



Cat's Claws and 



Tendons be a network of cords. Those are the 

 tendons which, whenever the animal so desires, are 



