CARNARIA. CARNIVORA. 73 



motions. The larger species take their prey in the 

 same manner, by rapid bounds. The flexibility of 

 their spine accompanied by the power of their mus- 

 cles enables them to throw themselves forward with 

 prodigious violence upon their victim, and to inflict 

 a sudden blow at the moment of descent, which in 

 general either kills or disables it. The toes, which 

 are numbered as in the Dogs, are furnished with 

 large, sharp, curved claws, whose mechanism is sin- 

 gularly beautiful and instructive. To preserve the 

 fore claws fit for use, it is necessary that the points 

 should not come in contact with the ground ; but 

 if they pointed permanently upwards they would be 

 useless. There is, therefore, a peculiar provision 

 made, by which they are enclosed within sheaths 

 formed by a fold of the skin at the tip of each toe, 

 where they lie concealed in the hair, until a muscular 

 action draws the base downwards, and the bristling 

 talons stand out with their sharp points and cutting 

 edges ready for action. The silent tread of the Cats 

 is partly owing to this structure, and partly to the 

 elastic pads of granular fat with which the balls of 

 the toes are furnished, and which likewise serve to 

 break the shocks, to which their violent leaps would 

 otherwise expose them. The prostrate victim is 

 usually torn by the united action of the teeth and 

 the claws : pressing the animal to the ground with 

 the feet, and pulling limb from limb by muscular 

 force, the Cat swallows the flesh almost whole, occa- 

 sionally licking the blood with the prickly tongue. 

 The claws are sometimes used as prehensile organs ; 



VOL. I. E 



