CHIEOPTERA. 327 



fully developed. The anterior of the two praemolars of the upper jaw is reduced. 

 In walking, the last phalanx of each digit is raised vertically, so that it does 

 not touch the ground, and the claws are protected from wear. Felis leo L, 



211 



Lion ; grinders, -. F. concolor L., Puma ; F. tigris L., Tiger, Asia ; F. onca 

 210 



L., Jaguar, Paraguay and Uraguay ; F. pardalu L., Panther-cat, South 

 America; F.pardus L., Panther or Leopard, Africa and West Asia ; F. cat us 

 L., Wild Cat, grey, with stripes, and transverse bars and vertical pupils, 

 Central and Northern Europe; F. maniculata Riipp., Nubian Cat ; F. domestica 

 L., the Domestic Cat, only known in domesticated state, probably descended 

 from several species ; Cynailurus guttata Herrm., andjubata Schreb. (Gueparde); 

 F. serval L., Serval, Senegal ; Lynx lynx L., with a tuft of hairs on the ear ; 

 L. caracal Schreb., Asia and Persia. 



Order 12. CHIKOPTERA. 



Mammals with complete dentition ; with a flying membrane (pata- 

 gium) extending between the limbs and the sides of the body, and 

 between the elongated fingers of the fore-limb ; with two thoracic 

 mammcB. 



Amongst the Marsupials (Petaurus), the Rodents (Pteromys), and 

 the Prosimice (Graleopithecus), there are a number of forms which are 

 assisted in jumping by a kind of parachute, which consists of a 

 cutaneous expansion the patagium stretched between the limbs 

 on each side. The patagium is much more completely developed in 

 the Bats ; in these animals it is continued over the extraordinarily 

 elongated fingers of the hand, and in virtue of its enormous size 

 and its great elasticity constitutes a true organ of flight, which, 

 however, differs considerably from that of birds. The tail is included 

 in the patagium, but the thumb and the foot are separate from 

 it (fig. 699). The thumb has two phalanges, and is armed with a 

 claw, as also are the five digits of the foot. Peculiar outgrowths of 

 the skin of the head, lobe-like appendages of the nose and ear, often 

 give the face a very strange expression. Except upon these appen- 

 dages, and on the thin elastic patagia, both of which have a large 

 supply of nerves and a delicate sense of touch, the surface of the body 

 is closely covered with hair. The skeleton (fig. 699) is light, and 

 displays in its structure the Mammalian type ; it is, however, 

 distinguished from that of other Mammalia by the rigidity of the 

 thoracic framework, and by the length of the strongly developed 

 sacrum, with which the ischia are united. The possession of a 

 crista sterni, and the ossification of the sternocostal cartilages, and 

 some other peculiarities recall the skeleton of the birds. The 



