396 ANIMALS OF THE 



other quadrupeds, the wild cat is, perhaps, that 

 whose intestines are proportionably the smallest 

 and the shortest. The intestines of the sheep, 

 for instance, unravelled out, and measured ac- 

 cording to their length, will be found to be above 

 thirty times the length of its body ; whereas the 

 wild cat's intestines, being measured out, will 

 not be found above three times the length of its 

 body. This is a surprising difference : but we 

 may account for it from the nature of the food 

 in the two animals ; the one living upon vegeta- 

 bles, which require a longer, and a more tedious 

 preparation, before they can' become a part of its 

 body ; the other living upon flesh, which requires 

 very little alteration in order to be assimilated 

 into the substance of the creature that feeds up- 

 on it. The one, therefore, wanted a long canal 

 for properly digesting and straining its food ; the 

 other but a short one, as the food is already pre- 

 pared to pass the usual secretions : however, a 

 difficulty still remains behind ; the intestines of 

 the wild cat are, by one-third, shorter than those 

 of the tame. How can we account for this ? If 

 we say that the domestic cat, living upon more 

 nourishing and more plentiful provision, has its 

 intestines enlarged to the quantity with which it 

 is supplied, we shall find this observation contra- 

 dicted in the wild boar and the wolf, whose in- 

 testines are as long as those of the hog or the 

 dog, though they lead a savage life, and, like the 

 wild cat, are fed by precarious subsistence. The 

 shortness, therefore, of the wild cat's intestines is 

 still unaccounted for ; and most naturalists con- 



