356 CARNIVORES. 



and it is noteworthy that when a species, like the tiger, inhabits both hot and cold 

 regions, the length of the fur varies according to the climate. 



Very characteristic of all the cats are the long bristle-like hairs, commonly 

 known as " whiskers," but technically designated " vibrissse," fringing the muzzle. 

 These hairs are provided with special nerves, and act as delicate organs of percep- 

 tion to aid the animals in finding their way, and detecting objects during their 

 nocturnal wanderings. In correlation with these nocturnal habits the eyes of the 

 cats are large and full, and their " pupils " can be altered largely in size by the 

 contraction or expansion of the iris, according to the amount of light they have 

 to receive. In most of these animals the ears are short and rounded at the tips, 

 but in the lynxes, and some allied species, they are elongated by the addition of 

 pencils of long hairs to their tips. The tail in the majority of cats is long, cylin- 

 drical, and capable of peculiar snake-like moments ; these movements being brought 

 into play when the animals are excited or in pursuit of their prey. In some of the 

 smaller typical cats, and in all the lynxes, the tail is, however, relatively short ; 

 while in the lion it is furnished with a large brush of hairs at the tip. 



The usual coloration of the members of the cat tribe takes the form of dark 

 spots or stripes on a lighter ground; the ground-colour generally varying from 

 shades of grey through tawny to yellowish or orange. The spots may be either 

 simple, or in the form of rings or rosettes enclosing an area of darker tint than the 

 general ground-colour of the fur. From these ringed spots there is a gradual 

 transition, as is well displayed in the marbled tiger-cat, to stripes, which are gener- 

 ally more or less vertical, and assume the most regular development in the tiger. 

 In a few species, however, such as the lion and the puma, the entire coloration is 

 tawny ; but even then traces of spots may often be detected in certain lights, while 

 the young are invariably spotted. From this it may be inferred that the uniform 

 tawny coloration of such species is an acquired character probably originally 

 adapted to the desert-haunting habits of the species in which it occurs and that 

 all the cats were primitively either spotted or striped. A black colour among 

 the wild members of the family is of comparatively rare occurrence, but it is met 

 with among the leopards, and in certain other species. 



In point of size, the members of the cat tribe present a greater degree of 

 variation than is found in any other family of Carnivores ; the larger species, like 

 the tiger and lion, being only equalled in bulk by some of the bears, while the 

 smallest member of the family the rusty-spotted cat of India is inferior in 

 dimensions to the common domestic cat. 



The total number of living species of the genus Felis may probably be reckoned 

 at or about forty-one ; and these have a distribution in space nearly coextensive 

 with that of the entire order of Carnivores. They do not, however, extend so far 

 northwards as do the bears and the dog family ; and they are totally unknown 

 in the Island of Madagascar. The greater number of species more especially those 

 of large size are found chiefly in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe ; 

 but the evidence of geology proves that the geographical range of some of these 

 species was much more extensive at an earlier period than is the case at the present 

 time. In respect of diet, the cats are purely carnivorous, and although when pressed 

 by hunger some of them are known to eat the flesh of any dead animals they may 



