38 THE BRITISH MAMMALS : THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES. 



round, and the tongue is rough, with recurved papilla;. There are 

 thirty teeth, eight in the upper jaw and but seven in the lower, 

 owing to there being two premolars instead of three, the upper 

 series consisting of three incisors (marked i in the illustration), a 

 canine (c), three premolars (p.m), and a molar (m). The third 

 premolar has three lobes and an inner tubercle, and the lower 

 molar (m 7 ) has two lobes and no inner cusp. These teeth work 

 against each other like the blades of a pair of scissors, and are 

 known as the carnassials or flesh teeth ; they are sharp and promi- 

 nent, and the teeth in front of them are pointed and compressed, 

 while those behind, in the upper jaw, are broad and tuberculated, 

 so as not to interfere with their action, the largest teeth in the set 

 being these carnassials and the tusk-like canines. The wild cat 

 lives in wild woodland country in hollow trees, crevices in the rocks, 

 or burrows in the earth, and hunts by night, even the young fawns 

 of the deer being among its victims. In length its head and body 

 measure from twenty-four to thirty inches or more, the tail being 

 about a third as long. The female is smaller and lighter in colour ; 

 the kittens are five or six in number. This cat must not be confused 

 with the domestic cat gone wild, which did not originate from the 

 native species ; it is only known to exist now in the north of 

 Scotland, so far as these islands are concerned, but it ranges 

 through Continental Europe into Northern Asia. 



Globicephalus. Plate xxv. GET ACE A. 



67. melas, PILOT WHALE. Colour black, with the exception of a 



narrow white area below ; nippers long and narrow. 



The Pilot Whale, or Blackfish, is well known on our northern 

 coasts, and used to be widely fished for in the northern islands. 



PILOT WHALE. 

 (Globicephalus melas.} 



