CARNIVORA. 13 



The CARNIVORA FISSIPEDIA, or Land Carnivores, are divided into 

 three great grQups, of which the first, or ./ELUROIDEA*, contains the 

 Cats, Hyaenas, and Civet-Cats ; the second, or CYNOIDEA f, the 

 Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes; and the third, or ARCTOIDEAJ, the Bears, 

 Weasels, and Raccoons. 



The Cats, or Felidce (Cases 11 to 16), are the most highly orga- [Cases 

 hized of all the Beasts of Prey, representing the predaceous type H-16.] 

 of animal in its fullest perfection. They are all lightly but strongly 

 built, with small heads, short ears, and, except in the Lynxes, long 

 hairy tails, which are never prehensile. They are invariably 

 digitigrade that is to say, they walk on their fingers and toes, 

 not on their palms and soles; and are provided with five toes 

 on their fore feet, of which the first, or pollex, does not touch 

 the ground, and four on their hind feet, the first being entirely 

 suppressed. Their sharp, powerful, and strongly-curved claws 

 are retractile, i. e. they can be drawn back when not in use, to 

 prevent them from being blunted by contact with the ground ; 

 the mechanism of retraction is explained on p. 73, in connection 

 with the osteology of the family. In disposition the Cats belong 

 to the fiercest of animals, and man has succeeded in taming, to a 

 certain extent, one member of the group only, our common House- 

 Cat; but all the other species become savage and bloodthirsty 

 when adult, even if, as kittens, they are apparently docile and 

 attached to their masters. The geographical distribution of the 

 Cats extends over the whole world, with the exception of Mada- 

 gascar and the Australian region. 



Of the Lion there are exhibited an adult male Barbary Lion, [Case 11.] 

 showing the thick black mane, which is especially well developed 

 in North-African individuals; a maneless Lion from Gujerat, 

 formerly thought to represent a distinct species ; and a fine Lioness 

 from South Africa. There is a also a Lion-cub, bred in England, 

 which shows traces of the dark spots so general in the family of 

 Cats, a fact which appears to indicate that the ancestors of our 

 tawny spotless Lion had spotted coats like the other Cats. The 

 present range of the Lion extends over the whole of Africa, through 

 Persia to the north-western corner of the continent of India. 



Above the Lioness, in Case 12, are placed two specimens of the [Case 12.] 

 * Ailourosj a cat. t Kuon, a dog. J Arktos, a bear. 



