INTERNAL ANATOMY Of THH LAND CARNIVORA. 



STOMACH OF LION. 



species, and their necessary correlation to the digestive organs, makes them serve as a key to the rest 



of the creature's structure, which structure is in absolute 



harmony with its habits and daily life. 



The tongue is covered with horny projections, or 



papilla?, and in the Cat tribe serves as a rasp to rub and 



scrape off the smaller fragments of flesh from the bones. 



The stomach is always simple, that is, consists of a bagpipe- 



like cavity not divided into compartments, as in the 



Ruminants and some other animals. A great difference 



from herbivorous animals is also seen in the length of the 



intestine. As the food is of a highly nourishing nature it 



requires less time for its digestion, and a smaller surface 



for its absorption into the blood, and the intestine is therefore remarkably short not more than three 



times the length of the body in the Lion and Wild Cat, instead of being fifteen to thirty times the 



length, as in some vegetable feeders. The Garni vora have, therefore, the manifest advantage of a more, 



compact and smaller " barrel " than the Herbivora, 

 and, in consequence, have less weight to carry, and 

 are slim and slender- waisted. 



As might naturally be expected, the organs by 

 which the blood, loaded with nourishment from the 

 digestive canal, is carried to all parts of the body, are 

 well developed. The heart, if not "as hard as the 

 nether millstone," is yet compact and strong in the 

 highest degree : the circulation is vigorous, and the 

 result is seen in great courage and astonishing powers 

 of endurance. 



In the lungs, with the windpipe and larynx, in 

 which the multitudinous cries of the group barks, 



howls, roars, and whines are produced, there is nothing to merit any special mention. 



The brain of Carnivora is, as a rule, remarkably large and well formed, in conformity with their 



high degree of intelligence. Its surface is 



thrown into well-marked ridges with inter- 



vening depressions, and presents a great con- 



trast with the almost smooth brain of a Shrew 



or a Hedgehog. From it are given off nerves 



to the tongue, teeth, skin, muscles, and other 



parts of the head, as well as some to organs 



at a considerable distance from the head, as 



the heart, lungs, and stomach, and, most 



important of all, three pairs of nerves, one 



for each of the organs of the higher senses 



the nose, eye, and ear. 



The two nerves of smell pass through a 



beautifully-perforated bone hence called the 



" sieve-bone," or ethmoid and proceed one 



on each side of a bony and gristly wall 



which divides the two nasal chambers from 



one another, to a delicate membrane covering 



a pair of bones of wonderful complexity a 



labyrinth which must be seen to be under- 



HKAIN OF DOG. 



stood, for the beautiful manner in which 



LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH A DOG's NOSE, SHOWING THE 

 SPONGY BONES. (Nat. Size. From a Sketch by T. J. Parker.) 



The smelling region; b. The sneezing region ; c. A bristle passed through the 

 nostril into the nasal chamber; d, A bristle passed from the nasal chamber 

 into the passage by which the latter communicates with the mouth. 



it enfolds itself can haixlly be imagined. 



These " spongy- bones," as they are called, the membrane covering which forms the true organ of 



